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THE 



PORTRAIT GALLERY OF TPIE WAR, 



CIVIL, MILITARY, AND NAVAL: ^ 



A BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



EDITED BY 



FRANK MOORE. 



wiTi-a: sx:xLT"S" s^ikte 'F'oic^'T'F^^-j^xrvs oisr steeij. t^ 



SOLD TO SUBSCRIBEna ONLY 

BY CANVASSING AGENIS. 



PUBLISHED BY G. P. PUTNAM, 

EXCLUaiVBLr FOR 

DERBY & MILLER, General Agents. 
1864. 






er+^i 



<^ V 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, 

By G. p. PUTNAM, 

In the Clerk's Office of tlie District Court of the United States, for the 
Southern District of New York. 



CONTENTS 



^~i^ o 



nj 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Commander-ix-Cmief. Frontispiece. 

Lieutenant-General WIXFIELD SCOTT, . 

Major-general ORMSBY M. MITCUEL, 

Rear-Admiral THEODORUS BAILEY, . 

MajorGeneral NATHANIEL LYON, 

Major-General FRANZ SIGEL, .... 

Rear-admiral ANDREW HULL FOOTE, 

Major-Gesebal FREDERICK W. LANDER, 

Major-General JOHN ELLIS WOOL, 

1!rigadier-General JOSHUA WOODROW SILL, 

Major-General ROBERT ANDERSON, 

Major THEODORE WINTHROP, .... 

HENRY W. BELLOWS, .... 

Admiral SAMUEL FRANCIS DU PONT, 

Lieutenant JOHN TROUT GREBLE, 

Lieutenant-General THOMAS JONATHAN JACKSON, 

Liectenant-Geseral U. S. GRANT, . 

General EDWARD D. BAKER, . 

Major-General 0. 0. HOWARD, 

SALMON P. CHASE, 

SIajor-General JOHN POPE, . 

ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS, 

Major-General 0. B. WILLCOX, 

JEFFERSON DAVIS, 

Major-General GEORGE G. MEADE, 

Lieutenant-General G. T. BEAUREGARD, 

Major-General SAMUEL P. HEINTZELMAN, 

Major-General Q. A. GILLMORE, 

General ROBERT E. LEE, . 

WILLIAM H. SEWARD, . 

Major-General GEORGE H. THOMAS, 

Major-General C. C. WASHBURN, 

Major-General W. S. HANCOCK, 

Major-General H. W. HALLECK, 

Major-General JAMES S. WADSWORTH, . 

Lieutenant-General LEONIDAS POLK, . 



105 
109 
119 
127 
13C. 
141 
140 
150 
155 
169 
1H3 
167 
173 
177 
183 
18S 
194 
202 
209 
212 
21B 
223 
228 



CONTENTS. 



Major-General JOHN ADAMS DIX, . 
Admiral D. D. PORTER, .... 
Major-General N. P. BAXK8, 
Major-General PHILIP KEARNY, 
• Major-General BENJAMIN F. BUTLER, 
Major-General LOVELL H. ROUSSE.U', . 
Major-General J. E. B. STUART, . 
Admiral D. G. FARRAGUT, 
Liectenaxt-General JAMES LONGSTREET, 
JAMES LOUIS PETIGRU, .... 
CHARLES SUMNER, .... 
Major-General WILLIAM FARRAN SMITH, 
Major-General GEORGE B. McCLELLAN, . 
Major-General DAVID HUNTER, 
Major-General GEORGE STONEMAN, 
Major-General WILLIAM STARKE ROSECRANS, 
Major-Genekal JOHN G. FOSTER, . 
Major-General JOHN C. FREMONT, 
Major-General JOHN SEDGWICK, . 
Major-General AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE, 
EDWIN M. STANTON,. 
Major-General JOSEPH HOOKER, 
Captain JOHN RODGERS, . . . * 

Admiral CHARLES HENRY DAVIS, 



PAOS 

, 231 
235 
238 
245 

. 248 
253 

, 256 
261 
265 
268 

, 271 
278 

, 283 
292 



311 
319 
325 
337 
340 
345 
349 



ABEAHAM LIITCOLN". 

PRESIDENTS must first be candidates, and candidates are public property, 
for all the great purposes of defamation and personal abuse ; when one is 
named for the Presidency, a large section of the press, and a great portion of the 
people, find a direct interest in the propagation of whatever may tend to render 
contemptible the person named, and to make him appear unfit for any position 
of dignity or trust. Hence the present President is known over a great part of 
the country as "the baboon," and respectable writers in Europe have lamented 
the result of universal suffrage in his election ; though perhaps no man ever 
occupied the same position who in himself and in his personal history was more 
truly representative of all that is best in the American people. 

Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin county, Kentucky (at a place now 
included in La Eue county), February 12th, 1809. • His ancestors were Quakers, 
and migrated from Berks county, Pennsylvania, to Rockingham county, Virginia, 
whence his grandfather Abraham removed with his family to Kentucky, about 
1782, and was killed by the Indians in 1784. Thomas Lincoln, the father of 
Abraham, was born in Virginia, and the President's mother, Nancy Hanks, was 
also a native of that state. Thomas Lincoln removed with his family in 1816 to 
a district now included in Spencer county, Indiana, where Abraham, then large 
for his age, assisted with an axe to clear away the forest. For the next ten years 
he was mostly occupied in this and other equally hard work on his father's farm, 
and in this period he went to school a little at intervals ; but the whole time of 
his attendance at school amounted in the aggregate to not more than a year. 
He never went to school subsequently. His first experience of the world beyond 
home was acquired on a flat-boat, upon which he made the trip to New Orleans 
as a hired hand, when nineteen yeai-s of age. The advantages of travel under 
these circumstances are not great. Flat-boats it is tiiie have been made the 
centre of a certain kind of free, western romance, and to float down the Ohio and 
the Mississippi in happy companionship with the "jolly flat-boat man," looks 
very pretty in a picture ; especially if the picture be well painted, like Mount's. 
But unfortunately all flat-boat men were not jolly, and flat-boats didn't always 
float, flat-boat men were not the chosen of the human race, except perhaps for rough- 
ness, and flat-boats had very often to be poled along ; there was much of coarse 



2 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

association for a boy to struggle against, and a deal of hard work to be done. 
On the other hand such travel is not delusive, it does not permit life to look the 
least like a holiday affair, nor unfit the wanderer for a sober return to the quiet- 
ness of home. Young Lincoln at the least travelled in a practical American man- 
ner, saw something of the world, and got paid for it. 

Settlers are a most unsettled generation, and in March, 1830, Thomas 
Lincoln migrated again ; this time to Macon county, Illinois. Abraham accom- 
panie'd his father to the new home, and there helped to build a log-cabin for the 
family, and to split enough rails to fence ten acres of land. From this he has 
been called the Eail-splitter. Now, to split rails has been a necessary piece oi 
labor since the days of MUo of Crotona, who was a rail-splitter in his time ; and 
while that occupation may not qualify a man for statesmanship, the name of 
Rail-splitter is a better one than Hair-splitter ; moreover, while a man's career 
and the words he has spoken show his brain to be a good one, it is no harm 
to him before the people to be able to show a good muscular record. Young 
Lincoln's flat-boat trip soon proved to be an advantage, and in 1831 he was 
engaged, at twelve dollars a month, to assist in the construction of a flat-boat, and 
subsequently in its navigation down the river to New Orleans. He acquitted 
himself to the satisfaction of his employer, who upon his return put him in 
charge of a store and mill at New Salem, then in Sangamon, now in Menard 
county, Hlinois. But these peaceful successes were soon lost sight of in the 
excitement of the Black Hawk war, which broke out in 1832. Lincoln joined a 
company of volunteers, and was elected their captain, an event which gave him 
a great deal of pleasure. He served through a campaign of three months, and 
on his return home was nominated by the Whigs of his district as a candidate 
for the state legislature ; but the county was Democratic and he was defeated, 
though in his own immediate neighborhood he received two hundred and seventy- 
seven votes, while only seven were ' cast against him. These indications of 
personal popularity flattered and stimulated to future effort, and were thus not 
without their effect upon a young man looking for a career. His next venture 
was the establishment of a country store, which did not prove prosperous, and 
which he relinquished to become postmaster of New Salem. While in this position 
he began to study law, and borrowed for that purpose the books of a neighboring 
practitioner ; the books were taken at night, and returned in the morning before 
they could be needed in the lawyer's office. Upon the offer of the surveyor of San- 
gamon county, to depute to him a portion of the work of the county surveyor's 
office, Mr. Lincoln procured a compass and chain and a treatise on surveying, 
and did the work. In 1834 he was again nominated as a candidate for the 
legislature, and was elected by the largest vote cast for any candidate in the 
state. He was re-elected in 1836, and in the same year was licensed to practise 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 3 

law. From New Salem he removed in April, 1837, to Springfield, and tliere 
opened a law office in partnership with Major John F. Stuart. Mr. Lincoln was 
re-elected to the state legislature in the years 1836 and 1840, and meanwhile 
rose rapidly to distinction in his profession, becoming especially eminent as an 
advocate in jury trials. He was also several times a candidate for presidential 
elector, and as such canvassed all of Illinois and part of Indiana for Henry Clay, 
in 1844, and made speeches before large audiences almost every day. 

Mr. Lincoln was elected a representative in Congress from the central district 
of Illinois in 1846, and took his seat on the first Monday in December, 1847. 
His congressional career was consistently that of one who believed in freedom 
and respected the laws. He voted forty-two times in favor of the Wilmot 
proviso. He voted for the reception of anti-slavery memorials and petitions ; for 
an inquiry into the constitutionality of slavery in the district of Columbia, and 
the expediency of abolishing the slave-trade in the district ; and on January 16th, 
1849, he offered to the House a scheme for the abolition of slavery in the district, 
and for the compensation of slave-owners from the United States treasury, 
provided a majority of the citizens of the district should vote for the acceptance 
of the act. He opposed the annexation of Texas, but voted for the loan bill to 
enable the government to carry on the Mexican war, and for various resolutions 
to prohibit slavery in the territory to be acquired from Mexico. He voted also 
in favor of a protective tariff, and of selling the public lands at the lowest cost 
price. In 1849 he was a candidate for the United States Senate, but was defeated. 
Upon the expiration of his congressional term Mr. Lincoln applied himself to his 
profession ; but the repeal of the Missouri compromise called him again into the 
political arena, and he entered energetically the canvass which was to decide the 
choice of a Senator to succeed General Shields. The Eepublican triumph, and 
the consequent election of Judge Trumbull to the Senate, were attributed mainly 
to his efforts. Mr. Lincoln was ineffectually urged as a candidate for the vice- 
presidency in the national convention which nominated Colonel Fremont in 1856. 
He was unanimously nominated candidate for United States Senator in opposi- 
tion to Mr. Douglas by the Republican state convention at Springfield, June 2d, 
1858, and canvassed the state with his opponent, speaking on the same day at 
the same place. In the coui-se of this canvass, and in reply to certain questions 
or statements of Mr. Douglas, Mr. Lincoln made the following declarations : " I do 
not now, nor ever did, stand in favor of the unconditional repeal of the fugitive 
slave law. I do not now, nor ever did, stand pledged against the admission of any 
more slave states into the Union. I do not stand pledged against the admission of 
a new state into the Union with such a constitution as the people of that state may 
see fit to make. ... I am impliedly, if not expressly, pledged to a belief in the 
right and duty of Congress to prohibit slavery in all the United States territoriea" 



4 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

lu explanation he said, " In regard to the fugitive slave law, I have never hesitat- 
ed to say, and I do not now hesitate to say, that I think, under the constitution of 
the United States, the people of the Southern states are entitled to a congressional 
fugitive slave law. .... In regard to the question of whether I am pledged to the 
admission of any more slave states into the Union, I state to you very frankly that 
I would be exceedingly sorry ever to be put in a position of having to pass upon 
that question. I should be exceedingly glad to know that there would never be 
another slave state admitted into the Union ; but I must add that, if slavery shall 
be kept out of the territories, during the territorial existence of any one given 
territory, and then the people shall, having a fair chance and a clear field, when 
they come to adopt their constitution, do such an extraordinary thing as adopt a 
slave constitution uninfluenced by the actual presence of the institution among 
them, I see no alternative, if we own the country, but to admit them into the 
Union." Assertions like this should be a sufficient answer to those who pro- 
nounce Mr. Lincoln an abolitionist. The Eepublican candidates pledged to the 
election of Mr. Lincoln received one hundred and twenty-five thousand two hun- 
dred and seventy-five votes ; the Douglas candidates received one hundred and 
twenty-one thousand one hundred and ninety votes ; and the Lecompton candi- 
dates five thousand and seventy-one. Mr. Lincoln had thus, on the popular 
vote, a clear majority over Mr. Douglas of four thousand and eighty-five ; but 
Mr. Douglas was elected Senator by the legislature, in which his supporters had 
a majority of eight on joint ballot. 

Mr. Lincoln acquired a national reputation mainly through his contest with 
Senator Douglas, and it consequently excited much surprise when, in the Ee- 
publican national convention assembled at Chicago, his name was put forward in 
connection with the Presidency. Many jirominent Eepublicans did not hesitate 
to declare their further support of the party conditional upon the nomination of 
Mr. Seward ; but the availability of Mr. Lincoln was persistently urged by those 
who considered his most prominent opponent too conspicuously committed to 
the unpopular opposition to slavery interests. The whole number of votes in 
the convention was four hundred and sixty -five, and two. hundred and thirty- 
three were necessary to a choice. Mr. Seward led on the first two ballots ; and 
on the third, Mr. Lincoln received three hundred and fifty-four votes, and his 
nomination was declared unanimous. His opponents for the Presidency in other 
parties were brought forward in such a manner, that the country was geographi- 
cally divided, and the contest was made almost exclusively sectional. By the 
extreme course of the Southern press, the sectional feature of the contest was 
more clearly brought out, and it was forced upon the North that Mr. Lincoln was 
exclusively its own candidate ; and the disruption of the country was openly 
threatened in the event of his election. From this it resulted that Mr. Lincoln 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 5 

received at the Nortb a support that he could never have received on his party 
account, and with three other candidates in the field his popular vote was one 
million eight hundred and fifty-seven thousand six hundred and ten. His vote 
in the electoral college was one hundred and eighty, against one hundred and 
forty-three for all others ; and the gentleman who had received the largest oppo- 
sing vote, John C. Breckenridge, declared from his place as president of the 
Senate, February 13th, 1861, that "Ab^raham Lincoln, of Illinois, having re- 
ceived a majority of the whole number of electoral votes, was duly elected Presi- 
dent of the United States for the four years commencing on the 4th of March, 
1861." 

Mr. Lincoln arrived in Philadelphia, on his way to the capital, February 
21st; and he there received full and accurate information, through the detective 
police, of the particulars of a plan for his assassination in the streets of Baltimore 
when he should reach that city. On the next day he visited Harrisburg, spoke 
before the legislature of Pennsylvania, and that night returned privately, but 
not disguised, to Philadelphia, whence he took the regular night train for "Wash- 
ington, and, without change of cars, arrived in the capital shortly after six, A. M., 
of February 23d. He was duly inaugurated on the 4th of March, and upon that 
occasion he said : " Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the South- 
ern states that, by the accession of a Kepublican administration, their property 
and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never 
been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evi- 
dence to the contrary has all the while existed, and been open to their inspec- 
tion. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses 
you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that ' I have no 
purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the 
states where it exists.' I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no 

inclination to do so I consider that, in view of the constitution, the Union 

is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability I shall take care, as the constitution 
itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union shall be faithfully 
executed in all the states." 

For some time previous to the election, resistance to the laws had been de- 
termined upon in the event of Mr. Lincoln's success ; and on December 20th a 
convention assembled in South Carolina had declared that state out of the Union. 
During the months of January and February, 1861, the states of Mississippi, Ala- 
bama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, had been also declared out of the 
Union in a similar manner ; and a congress of representatives from those states 
had convened at Montgomery, in Alabama, February 6th, had chosen a Presi- 
dent, and proceeded otherwise to organize a new government. Such was the 
position of affairs at the time of Mr. Lincoln's inauguration. Only a day after it, 



b ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

Peter G. T. Beauregard, an officer of the United States army, but involved in 
the rebellion, -was ordered by the rebel President to the command of the forces 
assembled for the investment of Fort Sumter, and on March 9th, the so-caUed 
Confederate Congress passed an act for the establishment and organization of an 
army. Yet Mr. Lincoln did not entirely despair of a settlement of the trouble 
without war, and the policy chosen by him, to use his own words, " looked to 
the exhaustion of all peaceful measures before a resort to any stronger ones." 
He therefore " sought only to hold the public places and property not already 
wrested from the government, and to collect the revenue, relying for the rest on 
time, discussion and the ballot-box. He promised a continuance of the mails, at 
government expense, to the very people who were resisting the government, and 
gave repeated pledges against any disturbances to any of the people, or to any of 
their rights. Of all that which a President might constitutionally and justifi- 
ably do in such a case, every thing was forborne, without which it was believed 
possible to keep the government on foot." 

But this was of no avail, and in a little more than a month after Mr. 
Lincoln's accession to office, Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor was attacked, 
and " bombarded to its fall." The bombardment and surrender were concluded 
on the thirteenth of April, and on the fifteenth the President issued his first 
proclamation — ^by which he called out " the militia of the several states of the 
Union to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in order to suppress 
rebellious combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed ;" and con- 
vened both houses of Congress in extra session. By subsequent proclamations 
he declared the complete blockade of all the ports of the United States south of 
the Chesapeake ; increased the regular army by twenty-two thousand, and the 
navy by eighteen thousand men, and called for volunteers to serve during three 
years, to the number of five hundred thousand. ^' These measures, whether 
strictly legal or not, were ventured upon under what appeared to be a popular 
demand and a public necessity ; trusting that Congress would readily ratify 
them." 

Congress readily did so. Further reference to these aflairs was made by 
the President in his first message to Congress in these noble words : " It was 
with the deepest regret that the executive found the duty of employing the war 
power in defence of the government forced upon him. He could but perform this 
duty, or surrender the existence of the government. No compromise by public 
servants could, in this case, be a cure — not that compromises are not often 
proper ; but that no popular government can long survive a marked precedent 
that those who carry an election can only save the government from immediate 
destruction, by giving up the main point upon which the people gave the elec- 
tion. The people themselves, and not their servants, can safely reverse their own 



ABRAHAMLINCOLN. 7 

deliberate decision. As a private citizen, the executive could not have consented 
that those institutions should perish, much less could he in betrayal of so vast and 
so sacred a trust as these free people had confided to him. He felt that he had 
no moral right to shrink, nor even to count the chances of his own life in what 
might follow. In full view of his great responsibility he has so far done what he 
has deemed his duty. You will now, according to your own judgment, perform 
yours." 

On the sixteenth of August, 1861, President Lincoln issued his proclamation 
prohibiting intercourse with the States in insurrection, excepting West-Virginia 
and North-Carolina, as well as the parts of States which were loyal. On the 
thu'ty-first of March, 1863, he issued another proclamation on this subject, revok- 
ing the exceptions, save only West- Virginia and the four ports of New-Orleans, 
Key West, Port Eoyal, and Beaufort, N. C. 

The impatience of some of his generals with the toleration of slave property 
among the rebels, which was used for the maintenance of the rebellion, either 
directly or indirectly, led them to issue general orders emancipating all the slaves 
of persons known to be in rebellion within their commands. General Premont 
was the first to do this in Missouri, August thii-ty-first, 1861. The President, 
believing that matters were not ripe for such a movement, modified his order in a 
published letter. General Hunter repeated the act in May, 1862, extending it 
over a region where he possessed no military authority. The President repudi- 
ated his proclamation as injudicious and untimely, reserving to himself, however, 
the right to take such a step as commander-in-chief when it should become a mili- 
tary necessity. That period was fast approaching. In August, 1862, Horace 
Greeley, editor of the New-York Trihune, addressed him a letter in the columns 
of his paper, urging the necessity of taking the ground of emancipation. Mr. 
Lincoln replied, on the twenty-second of August, in a brief but characteristic 
letter, in which he avowed his determipation to do all in his power for the salva- 
tion of the Union, proclaiming emancipation or not, as should seem to him most 
advisable for the attainment of that object The progress of events, however, 
soon satisfied him of the necessity of such a movement, and on the twenty-second 
of September he issued a preliminary proclamation, announcing that on the first 
of January, 1863, he should declare the emancipation of all slaves in the States, 
or parts of States, which should then be in insurrection, but that he would except 
in his proclamation all States which should before that time return to their alle- 
giance. The proclamation thus foreshadowed was issued on the New- Year's day, 
and soon after aiTangements were made for the raising of colored regiments. 

While the Border States and such portions of Tennessee, Louisiana, and West- 
Virginia as were loyal or under the control of the Union forces were specially ex- 
empted from the operations of this proclamation, it was the earnest desire of 



8 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

President Lincoln tliat these States should adojjt some plan of gradual emancipa- 
tion, and this desire was manifested by him repeatedly during the year 1862 and 
subsequently. On the sixth of March, 1862, he sent a message to Congress, re- 
commending the passage of a joint resolution pledging the cooperation of the 
United States in the way of pecuniary aid to any State which should adopt a sys- 
tem of gradual and compensated emancipation. On the twelfth of July he 
solicited and held an interview with the fnembers of Congress fi'om the Border 
slave States, in which he xirged upon them the importance of the measure, and 
recommended it in his message of December third, 1862. These recommenda- 
tions have taken and are still taking effect. 

The increasing proportions of the rebellion requiring a larger force in the 
field, Mr. Lincoln, on the first of July, 1862, in accordance with the advice of the 
Governors of the loyal States, called for three hundred thousand more volunteers 
for three years or the war ; and on the third of August called for a draft of three 
hundred thousand more for nine months. In most of the States this second 
quota was raised by volunteering, and the draft was resorted to for but a few 
thousands. The time of service of these troops, however, proved too short, and 
the arrangements for drafting were defective and unequal. Accordingly, on the 
twenty-eighth of February, 1863, Congi-ess j^assed a carefully considered conscrip- 
tion law, and in the spring of that year the President gave notice of a draft for 
three hundred thousand men to serve for three years. There was considerable 
opposition to the draft, the provisions of which were not well imderstood at first, 
and, in some instances, there were considerable riots, but the President wisely 
insisted on its enforcement, and, in a letter to Governor Seymour, of New-York, 
assigned satisfactory reasons for so doing. The di-aft not bi-inging in a sufficiency 
of recruits, he called, on the twentieth of October, 1868, for three hiindred thou- 
sand more volunteers. 

In a letter, bearing date June thirteenth, 1863, addressed to a committee of 
Albany Democrats, who had protested against the aiTCst of Mr. Vallandigham and 
demanded his release, President Lincoln clearly and satisfactorily defended the 
principle of military arrests in time of civil war ; and in another, addressed to the 
Springfield, Illinois, and Syi'acuse, New-York, Union Conventions, he justified, 
with singular ability, the employment of the negro to aid in putting down the 
rebellion. 




^4-/ ^'^' 



V;^ 



./ /.«/ 



WIl^FIELD SOOTT. 

W INFIELD SCOTT was bom near Petersburgh, Virginia, June thirteenth, 
1786 ; was the youngest son of William Scott, Esq., and was left an 
orphan at an early age. He was educated at the high-school at Richmond, whence 
he went to "William and Mary College, and attended law lectures. He was ad- 
mitted to the bar of Virginia in 1806. The next year he went to South-Caro- 
lina with the intention to take up his residence there ; but before he had ac- 
quired the right to practise in that State, Congress, in view of imminent hos- 
tilities with England, passed a bill to enlarge the army, and young Scott 
obtained a commission as Captain of light artillery. 

General Wilkinson was then stationed in Louisiana, and Captain Scott was 
ordered to join the army at that point in 1809. In the next year Wilkinson 
was superseded, and the young Captain then expressed what was a very general 
opinion, namely, that his late commander was implicated in Burr's conspiracy. 
For this he was tried by court-martial, and sentenced to one year's suspension 
from rank and pay. Prol)ably this suspension was a fortunate event ; for the 
whole of that year was employed in the diligent study of works on mili- 
tary art. 

War was declared against Great Britain June eighteenth, 1812 ; and in 
July of the same year Captain Scott was made a Lieutenant-Colonel in t^ 
Second artillery, and was stationed at Black Eock with two companies of Eis 
regunent. With this force he covered Van Eensselaer's passage of the Nia- 
gara River on the expedition against Queenstown, October thirteenth. Later 
in the day, when Van Rensselaer was disabled, the command fell upon Scott, 
who, after a gallant fight, deserted by the New- York militia, and outnumbered 
veiy greatly by British reenforcements, surrendered his whole command, two 
hundred and ninety- three in all, prisoners of war. 

While a prisoner, he saw the British ofiicers select from the American 
soldiers taken with him such as appeared to be L-ishmen ; and these men, 
they declared, were to be sent to England as British subjects, there to be 
punished for treason. Scott then, in the presence of the British ofiicers, as- 
sured the soldiers that the United States Governmenf would not quietly see 
them suffer, and would certainly retaliate upon British prisoners the treatment 
they should receive. Exchanged in January, 1813, he immediately made a 



10 WINFIELD SCOTT. 

report of this matter to the Secretary of "War. Laid before Congress, this re- 
port originated the act by which the President of the United States was in- 
vested with " the power of retaliation ;" and from prisoners subsequQtitly taken 
by himself, Scott chose a number equal to the number sent to England to 
abide their fate. For this purpose he was careful to choose only Englishmen. 

Immediately after the capture of York, Upper Canada, Scott rejoined the 
army on the frontier as Adjutant to General Dearborn, with the rank of Colonel. 
He took part in the expedition against Fort George, landed his men in good 
order, and scaled a steep height in the presence of the enemy, who was finally 
driven from his position at the point of the bayonet. Fort George was then 
no longer tenable, and the British abandoned it, having placed slow matches 
to all the magazines. Only one of them exploded, and from a piece of timber 
thrown by it, Colonel Scott received a severe wound in the left shoulder. 
Disaster and disgrace marked the close of this campaign, and for another it 
was necessary to form a new army. 

In March, 1814, Colonel Scott was made a Brigadier-General, and imme- 
diately thereafter established a camp of instruction at Buffalo, where his oavh 
and Ripley's brigades, with a battalion of artillery, and some regiments of vol- 
unteers, were drilled into thorough and accurate discipline. 

Brigadier-General Scott crossed the Niagara River with his brigade, July 
third, 1814 ; on the fourth skirmished for sixteen miles with a detachment under 
the Marquis of Tweedale, and that night encamped upon Street's Creek, two 
miles from the British camp at Chippewa. Between the two camps lay the 
plain upon which the battle was fought next day. East of this plain was the 
Niagara River, west was a heavy wood, and on the northern side from the 
wood to the Niagara ran the Chippewa River, while Street's Creek ran in a 
similar direction on the southern side. Behind the Chippewa was the British 
army under General Riall, well provided with artillery. 

About noon of the fifth, a bright, hot summer's day, there occun-ed a 
skirmish of light troops in the wood. Some Indians and British militia were 
there engaged by General Porter, with volunteers, militia, and friendly In- 
dians, and driven back until they came upon the main body of the British 
army, which was seen to be in motion, when Porter's irregulars broke and 
fled. Major-General Brown, in the wood with Porter, thiis first learned of the 
British advance ; and Brigadier-General Scott, also ignorant of it, was leading 
his brigade into the plain to drill. This was at four p.m. Brown hurried to 
the rear to bring up Ripley's brigade, and Scott's force passed the bridge over 
Street's Creek in perfect order under the British fire. The action soon be- 
came . general. Major Jessup, with a battalion in the wood, for some time 
checked the enemy's right wing, whereupon the enemy left one battalion with 



WINFIELD SCOTT. U 

him, formed a new right, and continued to advance. The British line was 
now drawn nearly square across the plain. Opposed was a battalion under 
McNeill, which faced his right obliquely, and another under Leavenworth 
which opposed his left in the same manner. Scott's line, thus formed, and 
supported by Towson's artillery on the right, continued to advance, fire and 
halt, until it was within eighty paces of the enemy, when McNeill's and 
Leavenworth's battalions, almost simultaneously, charged with the bayonet. 
This shock was decisive ; the British army broke and fled, pursued nearly 
to its intrenchments, in complete rout. The American loss was three hun- 
dred and twenty-seven, the enemy's five hundred and three ; while the Amer- 
cans engaged numbered only one thousand nine hundred, and the British 
two thousand one hundred. Three of the enemy's regiments, the Eoyal 
Scots, the Queen's Own, and the Hundredth regiment, were esteemed the 
best ti'oops in the British army. 

Much gloom was cleared from the public mijid by this battle ; it atoned 
for many disasters, and the country was taught, when it needed most to know 
it, that American soldiers,' in proper hands, were equal to those whose skill 
and discipline had been acquired in the hard-fought fields of the Peninsular 
war. "Brigadier-General Scott," said General Brown in his official report, "is 
entitled to the highest praise our country can bestow." 

With Scott's brigade still in the van, the American army passed over the 
Chippewa two days after the battle, and the British amiy retreated before it. 
But to mask a movement against Burlington Heights, a feigned retreat was 
almost immediately made. Should this foil to draw the enemy out, it was 
intended to use the twenty-fifth of July as a day of rest, and force an action 
on the twenty-sixth ; but on the twenty-fifth ^ord came that a portion of the 
enemy's force had crossed the Niagara, and Scott was sent forward to attack 
the remainder thus weakened. His force consisted of four small battalions of 
infantry, Towson's battery, and a detachment of cavalry, one thousand three 
hundred men in all. About two miles from camp he came upon the enemy 
drawn up in line of battle on Lundy's Lane. No British troops had crossed 
the Niagara, and Scott was now in front of the same army he had beaten on 
the fifth, swelled with a heavy reenforcement which had come up unknown 
to him only the night before. Eetreat must have a bad effect on the force 
behind him ; to stand fast was impossible, as he was already under fire ; he 
therefore advanced, determined to hold the enemy in check, if possible, till 
the whole American army should come up. The battle began a little before 
sunset, and continued into the night. Major-General Brown arrived upon the 
field, and assumed command at nine p.m. Then the enemy's right, in an at- 
tempted flank movement, had been driven back with heavy loss ; his left was 



12 WINFIELD SCOTT. 

cut off and many prisoners taken ; his centre alone remained firm, covered 
bj a battery on a Mil, whicli was finally earned by the bayonet. 

Scott received a severe wound in the side early in the night, and at 
eleven o'clock was disabled by a musket-ball in the left shoulder, and borne 
from the field. 

For his gallant conduct in these two battles, Scott was breveted Major- 
General, received a gold medal from Congress, and was tendered a position in 
the Cabinet as Secretary of "War, which he declined in favor of his senior. 
While yet feeble from his wounds, he went to Europe by order of the Gov- 
ernment, for the restoration of his health and for professional improvement. 
He returned home in 1816, and in March of the following year was married 
to Miss Maria Mayo, daughter of John Mayo, Esq., of Eichmond, Virginia. 

Ordered to the command of the forces intended to act against the savages 
in the Black Hawk war, in May, 1832, General Scott reached Prairie du Chien 
the day after the Battle of Bad Axe, which ended the war, and in time only 
to assist in the preparation of the treaties thereupon made with the various 
tribes. Erom the Western fi'ontier, he arrived in New- York in October, 1832, 
and was at once ordered to Charleston, S. C. Nullification had there agitated 
the community since the passage of the revenue act of 1828, and in 1832 a 
State convention provided for resistance to the objectionable law. President 
Jackson pronounced the resistance thus proposed incompatible with the ex- 
istence of the Union ; and the Governor of the State called out twelve thou- 
sand volunteers. General Scott's duty at Charleston was to examine the forts 
in the harbor, and strengthen and reenforce them if he deemed it necessary ; 
and he was ordered to act subordinately to the United States civil authorities 
in all that he did, but to prepal-e for any danger. Every part of this duty 
was discharged with an admirable forbearance and delicacy, which tended 
greatly to soothe, and did much to allay the angry excitement ; and South- 
Carolina, thus firmly met, rescinded her nullification ordinance. 

In January, 1836, Scott was ordered to Florida, and opened a campaign 
against the Indians there, which, from the nature of the country, the climate, 
inadequate stores, and the insufiiciency of his force, proved entirely fruitless. 
Greater success crowned his efforts against the Creek Indians in the same year, 
and all w«nt on well until, in July, he was recalled, that inquiry might be 
made into his first failure. Upon full deliberation, the court of inquiry pro- 
nounced his Seminole campaign " weU devised, and prosecuted with energy, 
steadiness, and ability." Yet he took no further part in the Florida war, 
though it employed the Government for six years longer. 

Canada became, in 1837, the scene of great political excitement, and all 
along the northern frontier the American people sympathized with the patriot 



WIN FIELD SCOTT. 13 

party over tlie line, and their sympatLiy became active. Navy Island, in the 
Niagara Eiver and within the British line, was occupied by some hundreds of 
Americans, who kept up communication with the American side by the small 
steamer Caroline ; and this steamer, while at the wharf on the American side, 
was cut loose at night by a British force, fired, and sent over the Falls. Great 
excitement spread through the whole country with the news. General Scott was 
ordered to the point January fourth, 1838. Through the remainder of the 
winter he was occiipied in the organization of a regular and volunteer force ; 
but at the same time he exercised everywhere a great influence for peace, 
and mainly through his noble exertions in this direction the war-cloud 
passed by. 

Again he was ordered to the Canada line in the next year. Hostile move- 
ments were then on foot in the Maine boundary dispute. Congi'ess had appro- 
priated ten millions of dollars, and authorized the President to call and accept 
volunteers. British troops were in motion toward the disputed territoiy ; the 
Maine militia was ready to move, and correspondence between the two govern- 
ments had come to an end. Yet Scott, from his first appearance, became a medi- 
ator. He was met in a similar spirit on the other side by Sir John Harvey, of 
the British army, with whom he had had not dissimilar relations in the campaign 
of 1814 ; and the correspondence begun between the two veterans brought about 
a peaceful solution of the whole difficulty. 

In June, 1841, upon the death of Major-General Macomb, General Scott be- 
came Commander-in-Chief of the entu-e army of the United States. 

War with Mexico having resulted upon the annexation of Texas, General 
Scott was ordered to that country in November, 1846, and reached the Eio Grande 
in January, 1847. The battles of Palo Alto and Eesaca de la Palma, had then 
been fought, and the town of Monterey taken. 

General Santa Anna was at San Luis Potosi, with twenty thousand men. 
Taylor was at Monterey with eighteen thousand, and Scott had with him only a 
small portion of the force with which it had been arranged that he should act 
against Vera Cruz. Government, busied only with the attempt to supersede him 
by the appointment of a civilian to the post of Lieutenant-General, virtually aban- 
doned Scott to his fate. Santa Anna knew that Yera Cruz was to be attempted, 
and how he wovild act was doubtful. Scott, in this juncture, drew from Taylor's 
force enough regular infantry to swell his own force to twelve thousand. "With 
this number he moved forward and invested Vera Cruz March twelfth ; on the 
twenty-second the bombardment was begun. Arrangements were made to cany 
the city by storm on the twenty -sixth, but on that day overtures of surrender 
were made by the Governor, and were completed on the twenty-seventh. Ten 
days later the ai-my, eight thousand strong, took the road to the City of Mexico, 



14 WIN FIELD SCOTT. 

defeated the Mexican array, fifteen thousand strong, under General Santa Anna, 
at Cerro Gordo, April eighteenth, entered Jalapa the day after, occupied the strong 
castle and town of La Perote, April twenty-second, and the city of Puebla, May 
fifteenth. Only thirty-four days had elapsed from the investment of Vera Cruz, 
and there were already taken ten thousand prisoners of war, ten thousand stand 
of arms, seven hundred cannon, and thirty thousand shells and shot. 

When he reached Puebla, Scott had left, capable of the march on the City of 
Mexico, but four thousand five hundred men ; but at Puebla he was detained by 
negotiations for peace, which proved futile. Meantime reenforcements arrived, 
and the army, increased by these to the number of ten thousand, again moved for- 
ward August seventh. 

Every practicable road to the city of Mexico, within the valley in which that 
city lay, was now held by parts of the Mexican army, and fortified with great 
skill. Contreras, San Antonio, and Churubusco, with ten batteries in all, must 
of necessity be carried, as they could not be tiimed, nor with safety left behind. 
General Valencia held Contreras with seven thousand troops, and twenty-two 
pieces of artillery, and Santa Anna had twelve thousand men in the woods behind 
it. After an indecisive action of three hours, August nineteenth, the United 
States troops stood to their arms all night in roads flooded by heavy rain that fell 
incessantly, and at daylight on the twentieth carried the place by storm. So 
rapidly was the latter attack made, that the division ordered to mask it by a 
diversion had not time to arrive ; and the actual fight lasted only seventeen 
minutes. 

By the capture of Contreras, Churubusco was taken in flank, and San Antonio 
in the rear. The troops were immediately moved forward to attack the latter 
place, when the enemy evacuated it. Churubusco only remained ; its defences 
were a tete-de-pont on the main causeway, and a convent strongly fortified. After 
a fierce struggle, both these defences wei-e taken, the tete-de-pont at the point of 
the bayonet. Upon this day the Mexican loss alone exceeded, by three thousand, 
the whole American army. 

To the military possession of the City of Mexico, it was yet necessary that the 
castle of Chapultepec should fall. Molino del Eey and Casa de Mata, dependen- 
cies of Chapultepec, were carried by assault September eighth ; heavy siege-guns 
were placed in battery September twelfth, and by the thirteenth had made a prac- 
ticable breach in the walls of the Military College, which was stormed the same 
day. From Chapultepec, Mexico City is within range, yet it still resisted, and two 
divisions of the army skirmished all day at the city gates ; but the same night 
Santa Anna marched out with the small remnant of his army, and the City of 
Mexico lay at the mercy of Major-General Winfield Scott. 

About daylight of the fourteenth, the city council waited upon the General 



WINFIELD SCOTT. 15 

to demand terms of capitulation for the church, the citizens, and the municipal 
authorities ; to this the General replied, that the city was already in his posses- 
sion, and that the army should be subject to no terms not self-imposed, or such as 
were not demanded by its own honor, and the dignity of the United States. 

"Winfield Scott, with his small and heroic army, had accomplished the object 
of the war ; peace was concluded February second, 1848, and very shortly after he 
received from "Washington the order, dated previously to the conclusion of peace, 
by which he was suspended from command, and a court of inquiry was ordered 
upon charges prefen-ed against him by brevet Major-General Worth. This court 
consisted of brevet Brigadier-General N. Towson, Paymaster-General, Brigadier- 
General Caleb Gushing, and Colonel E. G. W. Butler ; thus a paymaster-general, a 
brigadier of volunteers, and a colonel of dragoons, were ordered to examine the 
conduct of the veteran commander upon the charge of a subordinate. 

General Worth's charges were, that Scott " had refused to say whether he 
was the person refeiTcd to in a certain army order, and refused to forward charges 
against him to the War Department." Secretary Marcy virtually admitted that 
the conduct of the Government needed defence in this matter, by making an argu- 
ment in its support. But the whole country was astonished, and the people did 
not sympathize with the cold indifference of formality. Scott relinquished the 
command, and appeared before the court, which sat, first in Mexico, and subse- 
quently in Washington ; but meantime the war terminated, the transactions of the 
Court were allowed to fall out of view, no decision was ever given, and General 
Winfield Scott resumed his position at Washington as Commander-in-Chief of the 
army. 

In June, 1852, Winfield Scott was nominated a candidate for the office of 
President of the United States, by the Whig National Convention, at Baltimore. 
By a great portion of the people, this nomination was received with sincere joy ; 
but it was reserved for the hero to receive his first great defeat at the hands of 
his countrymen. 

Government, in 1859, with the desire to confer some additional mark of 
honor, bestowed upon the gallant veteran the brevet rank of Lieutenant-General ; 
and to make it the more clearly a personal distinction, and not a mere addition to 
army grades, the brevet was pui-posely so framed that it should not survive him. 

When the Southern rebellion began in 1860, General Scott adhered earnestly 
and uncompromisingly to the Constitution and Government of the United States, 
with whose history his life was identified, and for whose honor he had ever so 
consistently labored. With what pain he saw those dear to him for many years 
fall away from their allegiance, may be conceived ; but he, a son too of that Virginia 
that has given so many soldiers to the country, felt that he was not so much a 
Southerner as a citizen of the United States. From the commencement he saw 



16 WINFIELD SCOTT. 

that tlie true course was to meet tlie trouble finnly, and his suggestions, made 
while James Buchanan was still President, were such as, if followed, would have 
crushed rebellion in its very birth. But they were all unheeded. Twenty-eight 
years before, and in the same city of Charleston, Winfield Scott had been present 
at the rehearsal of this drama of secession • — • yet all the experience then gained, 
was not only not permitted to be of sei-vice to the country, but the old soldier was 
even compelled to abandon to its fate, a brave gamson in an insufficiently pro- 
vided fort. Despite, however, the inactivity forced upon him by weakness or 
crime, General Scott secured to the Government the possession of Washington 
City, which it was openly asserted could not be saved, and also seeiired the safe 
inauguration of President Lincoln. 

General Scott's experience, and great Icnowledge of the American people, 
were of infinite value in the organization of the army destined to act against the 
rebels. To an early movement of that army he gave a reluctant consent, and dis- 
aster followed the departure from his advice. Many differed with him, honestly 
no doubt, as to the method most likely to crush the rebellion ; yet every American 
must bitterly regret that neither his honorable and great services, nor his age, 
could, upon that point, preserve the veteran from the gross vituperation of an 
intemperate and ribald press. 

Finally, feeling himself no longer equal to the proper discharge of the import- 
ant duties of his position ; and that the best service he could render his country 
would be to make room for a younger man, Lieutenant-General Scott retired from 
the army, November first, 1861. No act of history is marked by more of simple 
dignity and truth, than this withdrawal of the man who felt that in the decay of 
age his faculties we're no longer equal to the requirements of his country. Upon 
his conclusion to retire, General Scott wrote thus to the Secretary of "War : 

" Headquarters op the Army, 

Washington, October 31st, 18G1. 

" To THE Hon. Simon Cameron, Secretary of War : 

" Sir : For more than three years I have been unable from a hurt to mount 
a horse, or to walk more than a few paces at a time, and that with much pain. 
Other and new infirmities, dropsy and vertigo, admonish me that repose of mind 
and body, with the appliances of surgery and medicine, are necessary to add a 
little more to a life already protracted much beyond the usual span of man. It 
is under such circumstances, made doubly painful by the unnatural and unjust 
rebellion now raging in the Soiithem States, of our so lately prosperous and happy 
Union, that I am compelled to request that my name shall be placed on the list 
of army ofiicers retired from active service. As this request is founded on an 
absolute right, granted by a recent act of Congi-ess, I am entirely at liberty to say 



■WINFIELD SCOTT. 17 

it is with deep regret tliat I withdraw myself in these momentous times, from the 
orders of a President who has treated me with much distinguished kindness and 
courtesy, whom I know, upon much personal intercourse, to be patriotic without 
sectional partialities or prejudices ; to be highly conscientious in the performance 
of every duty, and of unrivalled activity and perseverance ; and to you, Mr. 
Secretary, whom I now ofBcially address for the last time, I beg to acknowledge 
my many obligations for the uniform high consideration I have received at your 
hands, and have the honor to remain, sir, with high respect, 

" Your obedient servant, 

" WiNFiELD Scott." 

In response the Secretary of War wrote as follows : 

' " War Department, 

Washington, November 1st. 
" General : It was my duty to lay before the President your letter of yes- 
terday, asking to be relieved, under the recent act of Congress. In separating 
from you, I cannot refrain from expressing my deep regret that your health, shat- 
tered by long service and repeated wounds, received in your country's defence, 
should render it necessary for you to retire from your high position at this mo- 
mentous period of our histoiy. Although you are not to remain in active service, 
I yet hope that while I continue in charge of the department over which I now 
preside, I shall at times be permitted to avail myself of the benefits of your wise 
counsels and sage experience. It has been my good fortune to enjoy a personal 
acquaintance with you for over thirty years, and the pleasant relations of that 
long time have been greatly strengthened by your cordial and entire cooperation 
in all the great questions which have occujDied the department and convulsed the 
country for the last six months. In parting from you, I can only express the 
hope that a merciful Providence, that has protected you amidst so many trials, 
will improve your health, and continue your life long after the people of the 
country shall have been restored to their former happiness and prosperity. 
" I am. General, very sincerely, your friend and servant, 

Simon Cameron, Secretary of "War. 
" Lieut. -General WiNFiELD Scott, Present." 

General Scott's request, it was decided in a special Cabmet council, held 
November first, could not be declined in view of his age and infirmities ; and in 
the afternoon of the same day, the President, attended by all the members of the 
Cabinet, waited upon General Scott, at his residence, and there read to him the 
following order : 



18 WINFIELD SCOTT. 

" On the first day of November, A.D. 1861, upon Ms own aj^plication to the 
President of the United States, brevet Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott is or- 
dered to be placed, and hereby is placed upon the list of retired officers of the 
army of the United States, without reduction in his current pay, subsistence, or 
allowance. 

" The American people will hear with sadness and deep emotion that General 
Scott has withdrawn from the active control of the army ; while the President 
and unanimous Cabinet express their own and the nation's sympathy in his per- 
sonal affliction, and their profound sense of important public services rendered by 
him to his country during his long and brilliant career, among which will be 
gratefully distinguished his faithful devotion to the Constitution, the Union, and 
the flag, when assailed by parricidal rebellion. 

"Abraham Lincoln."' 

General Scott thereupon rose, and thus addressed the President and Cabinet, 
who had also risen : 

" President, this honor overwhelms me. It overpays all sei-vices I have at- 
tempted to render to my country. If I had any claims before, they are all oblit- 
erated by the expression of approval by the President, with the remaining sup- 
port of his Cabinet. I know the President and this Cabinet well. I know that 
the country has placed its interests in this trying crisis in safe keeping. Their 
counsels are wise, their labors are as untiring as they are loyal, and theii- course is 
the right one. 

" President, you must excuse me. I am not able to stand longer to give 
utterance to the feelings of gratitude which oppress me. In my retirement I shall 
offer up my prayers to God for this Administration and for my country. I shall 
pray for it with confidence in its success over all enemies, and that speedily." 

The President and the members of the Cabinet then severally took leave of 
the General. 

Upon the same day Major-General George B. McClellan was appointed Gen- 
eral Scott's successor in command of the army, and issued the following General 
Order : 

"Headquarters of the Army, 

WAsniNGTON, November 1st, 1861. 
GENERAL ORDERS No. 19. 

" In accordance with General Order No. 94, from the War Department, I 
•hereby assume command of the armies of the United States. 

" In the midst of the difficulties which encompass and divide the nation, hesi- 



WIN FIELD SCOTT. 19 

tation and self-distrust may well aecompany tlie assumption of so vast a respon- 
sibility ; but, confiding as I do in the loyalty, discipline, and courage of oui- 
troops, and believing as I do that Providence will favor ours as the just cause, I 
cannot doubt that success will crown our efforts and sacrifices. The army will 
unite with me in the feeling of regi-et that the weight of many years and the effect 
of increasing infirmities, contracted and intensified in his country's service, should 
just now remove from our head the great soldier of our nation, the hero, who, in 
his youth, raised high the reputation of his country in the fields of Canada, which 
he sanctified with his blood ; who, in more mature years, jDroved to the world that 
American skill and valor could repeat, if not eclipse, the exploits of Cortez in the 
land of the Montezumas ; whose whole life has been devoted to the service of his 
country, whose whole efforts have been directed to uphold our honor at the small- 
est saci'ifice of life ; a warrior who scorned the selfish glories of the battle-field when 
his great qualities as a statesman could be employed more profitably for his coun- 
try ; a citizen who, in his declining years, has given to the world the most shining 
instance of loyalty, in disregarding all ties of birth, and clinging still to the cause 
of truth and honor. ' Such has been the career and character of Winfield Scott, 
whom it has long been the delight of the nation to honor, both as a man and as a 
soldier. While we r»gret his loss, there is one thing we cannot regret — the bright 
example he has left for our emulation. Let us all hope and pray that his declin- 
ing years may be passed in peace and happiness, and that they may be cheered by 
the success of the country and the cause he has fought for and loved so well. 
Beyond all that, let us do nothing that can cause him to blush for us. Let no 
defeat of the army he has so long commanded embitter his last years ; but let our 
victories illuminate the close of a life so grand. 

" George B. McClellan, 

"Major-General Commanding TJ. S. A." 

Eight days later General Scott sailed fi-om New- York for Europe, there to 
join his family and seek repose fi-om the labor and excitement that, added to his 
years, had so nearly bome him down. 

President Lincoln, in his message of December third, 1861, to Congxess, thus 
refers to the retirement of General Scott : 

" Since your last adjournment, Lieutenant-General Scott has retired from the 
head of the army. During his long life the nation has not been unmindful of his 
merit. Yet, on calling to mind how faithfully, ably, and brilliantly he has served 
the country fi-om a time far back in our history, when few of the now living had 
been born, and thenceforward continually, I cannot but think that we are still 
his debtor. 



20 WINFIELD SCOTT. 

" I submit, therefore, for your consideration, wiiat further mark of recogni- 
tion is due to him and ourselves as a grateful people." 

These words, a noble tribute in themselves, have hitherto called out no 
response from Congress ; and it remains to be seen what action will be taken to 
express the full sense of the nation's gratitude toward the great man who has, for 
so long a period, so faithfully and faultlessly served it. 



^-^5*'^^^>^'^V»=< • 




MVT GEN_ a M_ MITrilELL- 



OEMSBT MACE:N"IGHT MlTOHEL. 

AMONG the noble and gallant graduates of "West-Point who, at the call of their 
country, abandoned eminent secular positions to devote their lives to her serv- 
ice, there has been none more widely or deservedly known and honored than Orms- 
by Macknight Mitchel. An accomplished mathematician, thoroughly versed in 
theoretical and practical astronomy, .possessing great powers of oratory, and a 
remarkable inventive genius, which he had made of great service to the science 
of which he was passionately fond, and having an energetic temperament, a 
vigorous, sinewy constitution, and extraordinaiy executive abilities, he was one 
of those men who could not fail to make their mark. To his other valuable 
qualities were added an intense patriotism, a devout and reverent spirit, and the 
urbanity and polish of manners of the Christian gentleman. 

He was bom in Union County, Kentucky, August twenty-eighth, 1810. His 
parents were "Virginians, but had emigrated to Kentucky some years before his 
birth. Though residing in a fertile section of the State, his parents do not seem 
to have prospered pecuniarily, though they were solicitous for the education of 
their children. Young Mitchel early manifested a taste for study ; at twelve 
years of age he had acquired a good elementary English education, had made 
considerable progress in mathematics, and had mastered the rudiments of Latin 
and Greek. 

At this time, in consequence, we believe, of the death of one or both parents, 
he was thrown upon his own resources. His early school education had been 
obtained at Lebanon, "Warren County, Ohio, and he obtained a situation as clerk 
in a store at Miami, Ohio, ^vith wages at four dollars a month and his board. 
Not long afterward he was offered a similar but more lucrative situation at 
Lebanon, and diligently improving his leisure moments in study, he was well 
fitted to enter the Militaiy Academy at "West-Point, where he received an appoint- 
ment as a cadet in June, 1825. His little earnings were expended in his outfit 
and the expense of meals and lodgings on his journey to West-Point, and having 
performed the journey, a wearisome one at that day, on foot, he entered the 
Academy with his knapsack on his back and twenty-five cents in his pocket. 
The zeal for obtaining an education which led to such sacrifices, and the endur- 
ance of such hardships, was not likely to flag even under the severe discipline of 
the Military Academy, and we find accordingly that he early took and maintained 



22 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 

throughout his course a very high rank as a scholar. The class was one which 
contained several brilliant men, among them the present rebel Generals Eobert 
E. Lee and Joseph E. Johnston, but neither ranked so high as the energetic 
young Ohio backwoodsman. 

lie graduated in 1829, and was at once made Acting Assistant Professor of 
Mathematics, though but nineteen years of age. After holding this post for two 
years, he was detailed to garrison duty ; but, in 1832, tired of inactivity, and hav- 
ing studied law during his leisure time, he resigned, and was admitted to the 
Ohio bar at Cincinnati. In 1834, he was elected Professor of Mathematics, Philo- 
sophy, and Astronomy in Cincinnati College, and filled the chair with great ability 
for ten years. His reputation as a mathematician and an eloquent public speaker 
far transcended the limits of the college halls, and he was hardly more than thirty 
years of age when the citizens of Cincinnati were accustomed to boast of him as 
" their great mathematician and the smartest man out West." In 1836 and 1837, 
while still jjerforming his duties as professor, he was chosen Chief Engineer on the 
Little Miami Eailroad, and the skilful manner in which he laid out that railroad, 
the first which connected the Ohio and the lakes, and the substantial style in 
which he caused it to be built, added materially to the already high estimate of 
his abilities. He was an attendant, during a portion of his professorship, on the 
ministrations of the Eev. Lyman Beecher, D.D., in many respects one of the 
most remarkable men who has filled an American pulpit, and a man whose char- 
acter and powers Mitchel could fully appreciate, and with whom he was in most 
hearty and cordial sympathy. To the vigorous, burning utterances of the " old 
man eloquent " he was always an attentive and fascinated listener, and there gi-ew 
up a lifelong friendship between the two. 

In the spring of 1842 he commenced a course of lectures on astronomy to a 
popular audience, the first attempt of the kind which had been made in the 
West, if not the first in the United States. The course, which occupied two or 
three evenings each week, lasted two months, and a hall capable of seating nearly 
two thousand people was crowded every evening during its delivery. It was, we 
believe, at the close of these lectures that he first broached the idea of an Ob- 
servatory at Cincinnati. The idea was certainly a bold one, for there was not a 
first-class observatory at that time in the United States. Indeed, there were but 
five of any kind then in existence in the country, and a sixth in process of erec- 
tion. Of these, the Williams College and Yale College Observatories were small 
and but poorly furnished with instruments, and neither had been in existence a 
dozen years ; there was also a small observatory at Western Eeserve College, 
Hudson, Ohio, and a better one at Philadelphia, both erected in 1838, and in 
1840 an observatory had been erected for the first time at West-Point The Gov- 
ernnment were at this very time establisliing one at Washington. 



ORMSBY MACK NIGHT MITCHEL. 23 

Professor Mitchel's plan was to divide the sum necessary for tlie building and 
furnishing the Observatory with proper instruments into shares of twenty-five 
dollars each, and when three hundred were taken up the stockholders were to 
elect their directors or trustees. lie was at this time engaged in teaching six 
hours a day, but he entered upon his work of procuring subscriptions to the stock 
with such activity and zeal that in less than a month the whole amount was sub- 
sci'ibed, and Nicholas Longworth, the Cincinnati millionaire, had donated a site 
for it. One of the first resolutions of the directors, after their election, was to 
send Professor Mitchel to Europe to purchase the apparatus for the Observatory. 
He complied with the wishes of the directors, but he would not trench upon his 
duties to the college. He accordingly left Cincinnati at the close of the spring 
term, and was absent fi-om the city just one hundred days, during which time he 
visited "Washington to obtain his papers and letters of introduction to eminent 
astronomers abroad, hastened thence to New- York, from which city he sailed for 
Havre, and after a rapid exploration of Paris, which satisfied him that there was 
no refracting telescope there such as he wanted, started for Munich, refusing to 
delay on the route to see the Lake of Geneva or any other of the points usually 
visited by travellers, but making all speed to his destination. At Munich he 
found the lens of the great refi-actor, which is now mounted eqiiatorially in the 
Cincinnati Observatory, in the manufactory of the celebrated opticians Merz and 
Mohler, but the price was ten thousand dollars, three thousand more than his 
directors had empowered him to expend ; taking the responsibility, however, he 
made the contract for it, and directed the time, place, and circumstances of its 
shipment. This done, he hurried on to London, to gain access, for a few weeks, 
to the Greenwich Observatory as a student. He found Professor Airy, the As- 
tronomer Eoyal, to whom he had strong letters of introduction, most fi-eezingly 
polite, and evidently determined to grant him no privileges or courtesies beyond 
those of the most formal character. He was not even invited into the Observa- 
tory. But the young professor was not to be so easily repulsed. He knew that 
it was desirable that he should enjoy the opportunity of seeing the methods of 
observation adopted in the Greenwich Observatory, and he determined he would 
do it. He accordingly, after some general conversation, in which the English 
astronomer had been curt even to rudeness, asked Professor Airy's opinion as to 
the best mode of mounting a telescope. " Go to Cambridge, and you will see my 
opinion practically embodied in that observatory," was the ungracious reply. 
After a little further conversation, but without signifying his intention of com- 
plying with the advice thus tendered. Professor Mitchel withdrew. It was late in 
the afternoon, and the train for Cambridge would start in a few minutes. Calling 
a hackman, he ordered him to drive him to the station, secured his ticket and was 
off It was a remarkably fine night, and he well knew that before he could reach 



24 ORMSBTMACKNIGHTMITCHEL. 

the Observatory tlie directors woiild be locked in. He made bis way directly to 
tbe residence of the Professor of Astronomy and asked to see his lady. She 
proved to be a lady in the best sense of the word, and in ten minutes Professor 
Mitchel, whose powers of conversation were unequalled, had so interested her in 
his object that she went to the Observatory and called her husband to come and 
see him, aad asked him to take him into the Observatory, which he readily con- 
sented to do. The whole night was spent in the Observatory, the Yankee pro- 
fessor recording and copying observations in quantities that astonished the Eng- 
lish astronomer. At daylight he was back to the station ; and by the time 
Professor Airy had swallowed his breakfast, Mitchel was at his residence in 
Greenwich, ready for another interview. The Astronomer Eoyal, supposing that 
his advice about going to Cambridge had not been taken, was colder than ever, 
and when Mitchel told him he had been there, he uttered an exclamation which 
was nearly equivalent to accusing him of falsehood. Mitchel replied by describ- 
ing the Observatory, the telescope and professor there, even to the minutest par- 
ticulars, and then exhibiting his copious records of the night's observations. The 
Astronoiner Eoyal was by this time thoroughly thawed. " This beats any thing 
I ever heard of," he exclaimed ; then added, as if to make amends for his previous 
coldness : " You must dine with me to-day." At the dinner-table he was seated 
by Mrs. Airy, and she was so much pleased with her guest tl\at before the dinner 
was over she said to her husband : " I have a favor to ask of you — that you will 
take Professor Mitchel into the Observatory, and let him have every facility to 
perfect himself while he remains." " It is granted on one condition," replied the 
astronomer good humoredly, " and that is, that while he is in the Observatory he 
shall keep that tongue of his still." 

The privilege, thus gi-anted, was used up to the last available moment, and 
when the time came for the sailing of the steamer, the compilation and. extension 
of the notes he had made suf&ced to occupy the voyage. At the commencement 
of the next term in the college he was at his post, as ready for his duties as if he 
had but visited one of the lakes or the falls of the Upper Mississippi. On the 
fourth of July, 1843, the corner-stone of the new Observatory was laid, the vener- 
able John Quincy Adams pronouncing the oration on the occasion. It was not, 
however, till the autumn of 1844 that its fine telescope was mounted and observa- 
tions commenced. A considerable debt still rested upon it, and an endowment 
fund was needed for the support of the director. To extinguish this debt and 
procure the means of endowment. Professor Mitchel, who had resigned his pro- 
fessorship in 1844 to enter upon his duties as director of the Observatory, resolved 
to deliver courses of lectures on astronomy in the large cities of the country, the 
avails of which should be applied to these purposes. His fame as a lecturer had 
preceded him, and he was everywhere welcomed by very large audiences, all of 



ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 25 

whom were delighted with the clearness and felicity of his explanations of astro- 
nomical phenomena, and the wondrous charm he threw over his subject. At the 
delivery of these lectures in New- York, an incident occiirred within the writer's 
observation which indicated in the strongest possible manner the charm of his 
eloquence. He was delivering his course in the old Broadway Tabernacle, and 
that vast building was packed with an intelligent and deeply interested audience ; 
• it was, we believe, his fourth or fifth lecture, and the reporter of the Herald, which 
had given verbatim reports of the entire course, was busily at work. The subject 
of the lecture was the vast extent of the universe ; he had stated, with a vivid- 
ness of description which has never been surpassed, Msedler's theory of a central 
sun in y Hercules, and had raised his audience to the loftiest pitch of awe and 
reverence hy the suggestion that this central point around which the island uni- 
verses revolved, too remote for mortal eye, even assisted by the most powerful 
telescope, to discern, might be the special dwelling-place of Jehovah, who had 
said, " Clouds and darkness are the habitation of my throne," and closed his lec- 
ture by repeating, as he only could do it, the grand, sublime dream of Jean Paul 
Richter, as rendered by De Quincey, commencing : " And God called a man in 
dreams, a^pd said, Come, I will show thee the glories of my House." Up to this 
moment the busy fingers of the reporter had transferred to paper the glowing 
words of the speaker, and for the first sentence or two he strove against the sense 
of grandeur and sublimity which was overpowering ; but at length, dashing down 
his pencil, he listened, entirely forgetful of his duty in the delight and awe^ with 
which he was overwhelmed, and the next morning frankly confessed that his 
emotion had been too great to permit him to rej)ort the concluding jJortion of the 
lecture. 

The lectures were entirely successful, and in connection with some donations 
and legacies, produced a sufficient endowment fund to render the position of direc- 
tor a comfortable one. The next few years were devoted with gi-eat assiduity and 
success to the prosecution of his astronomical discoveries. His mechanical genius 
here found scope in the invention of instruments for the admeasurement of the 
parallax of remote stars ; a magnetic clock which should, when connected with the 
telegraphic wires, give the mean time of the different observatories ; an apparatus 
for recording right ascensions and declinations by electro -magnetic aid to within 
one one thousandth of a second of time, and for the measiirement with great accu- 
racy of large differences of declination, such as the ordinary method by microme- 
ter could not at all reach. He discovered the planet Neptune, fi-om the calcula- 
tions of Leverrier, before it had. been discovered by any other astronomer in this 
country, and within one or two days after its discovery by Adams in England. 
He also discovered the exact period of the rotation of Mars, and the comi^anion 
of Antares or Cor scorpii. He devoted much time, at the request of the German 



26 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 

astronomer W. Struve, to the re-measurement of the double stars south of the 
equator, discovered and catalogued by that eminent astronomer, and in the prog- 
ress of this re-measurement made several interesting discoveries. In July, 1846, 
he commenced the publication of the Sidereal Messenger, the first periodical 
attempted in the United States, devoted exclusively to astronomy. It was con- 
tinued two years, but finally abandoned for want of patronage. 

But he was too active and energetic to be satisfied with labors which would 
have overtasked a man of ordinary physical powers. During this period he was 
for much of the time Engineer in Chief of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, pro- 
cured the greater part of the subscriptions to its stock, and went to Evirope and 
negotiated its bonds. He was also for ten years in command of a volunteer corps 
in Cincinnati, and at one time Adjutant-General of Ohio. His severer labors 
were diversifi£d by an occasional lecturing tour and the preparation of a volume 
of his lectures, a popular algebra, and some other books for the press. In 1859 
he was offered the directorship of the Dudley Observatory, at Albany, which he 
accepted, retaining at the same time that of the Observatory at Cincinnati. In the 
succeeding winter he delivered, in New- York and Brooklyn, a new course of lec- 
tures, on the "Astronomy of the Bible," which were subsequently published in a 
volume. He also prepared a popular text-book on astronomy, for the use of 
colleges and high schools. His directorship at Albany was fruitful in astronomi- 
cal discoveries. 

Thus useful and honored, contributing to the promotion of an important 
science, and aiding in the dissemination of knowledge, he might easily have 
claimed that his services were not needed in the war which all men saw to be now 
approaching. But he had no disposition to reason thiis. When the President 
issued his call for volunteers, on the fifteenth of April, 1861, no one of the na- 
tion's sons, educated in her military'' school, sjDrang forward with a heartier alacrity 
to draw the sword in her defence. 

At that vast concourse of citizens which met at Union Park, New- York, on 
the twentieth of April, 1861, among the many eloquent appeals to the people 
to rise in defence of the nation's insulted honor none were more impressive or 
produced a more powerful effect on the audience than that which burst from the 
lips of 0. M. Mitchel. The substance of that address, as taJcen down by the re- 
porters at the time, has been preserved. It was as follows : " I am infinitely 
indebted to you for this evidence of your kindness. I know I am a strarger 
among you. I have been in your State but a little while ; but I am with you 
heart and soul, and mind and strength, and all that I have and am belongs to 
you and to our common country, and to nothing else. I have been announced to 
you as a citizen of Kentucky. Once I was, because I was born there. I love my 
native State as you love your native State. I love my adopted State of Ohio as 



ORMSBT MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 27 

you love your adopted State, if such you have ; but, my friends, I am not now a 
citizen of any State. I owe allegiance to no State, and" never did, and, God help- 
ing me, I never will. I owe allegiance to the Government of the United States. 
A poor boy, working with my own hands, at the age of twelve turned out to take 
care of myself as best I could, and beginning by earning but four dollars per 
month, I worked my way onward until this glorious Government gave me a 
chance at the Military Academy at "West-Point. There I landed with a knapsack 
on my back, and, I tell you God's truth, just a quarter of a dollar in my pocket. 
There I swore allegiance to the Government of the United States. I did not ab- 
jure the love of my own State, nor of my adopted State, but all over that rose 
proudly, triumphantly, and predominant my love for our common country. And 
now, to-day, that common country is assailed, and, alas ! alas ! that I am com- 
pelled to say it, assailed in some sense by my own countrymen. My father and 
my mother were from Old Virginia, and my brothers and sisters from Old Ken- 
tucky. I love them all ; I love them dearly. I have my brothers and friends in 
the South now, united to me by the fondest ties of love and affection. I would 
take them in my arms to-day, with all the love that God has put into this heart ; 
but if I found them in arms, I would be compelled to smite them down. You 
have found officers of the army who have been educated by the Government, who 
have drawn their support from the Government for long years, who, when called 
upon by their country to stand for the Constitution and the right, have basely, 
ignominiously, and traitorously either resigned their commissions or deserted to 
traitors, rebels, and enemies. What means all this ? How can it be possible that 
men should act in this way ? There is no question but one. If we ever had a 
government and constitution, or if we ever lived under such, have we ever recog- 
nized the supremacy of right ? I say, in God's name, why not recognize it now ? 
Why not to-day ? why not forever ? Suppose these friends of ours fi-om Old Ire- 
land, suppose he who has made himself one of us, when a war should break out 
against his own country, should say, ' I cannot fight against my own country- 
men,' is he a citizen of the United States ? They are no countrymen longer when 
war breaks out. The rebels and the traitors in the South we must set aside ; 
they are not our friends. When they come to their senses we will receive them 
with open arms ; but till that time, while they are trailing our glorious banner in 
the dust, when they scorn it, condemn it, curse it, and trample it under foot, then 
I must smite. In God's name I will smite, and as long as I have strength I will 
do it. Oh ! listen to me, listen to me ; I know these men, I know their courage, 
I have been among them, I have been with them, I have been reared with them. 
They have courage, and do not you pretend to think they have not. I tell you 
what it is, it is no child's play you are entering upon. They will fight, and with 
a determination and a power which is well-nigh irresistible. Make up your mind 



28 ORMSBY MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 

to it. Let every man put his life in his hand and say : ' There is the altar of my 
country ; there I will sacrifice my life. I, for one, will lay my life down. It is 
not mine any longer. Lead me to the conflict. Place me where I can do my 
duty. There I am ready to go. I care not where it leads me.' My friends, that 
was the sj^irit that was in this city on yesterday. I am told of an incident that 
occuiTed, which drew the tears to my eyes, and I am not much used to the melt- 
ing mood at all. And yet I am told of a man in your city who had a beloved 
wife and two children depending upon his personal labor, day by day, for their 
support. He went home, and said : ' "Wife, I feel it my duty to enlist and iight 
for my country.' ' That is just what I have been thinking of, too,' said she ; 
' God bless you ; may you come back without harm, but if you die in defence of 
the country, the God of the widow and the fatherless will take care of me and my 
children.' That same wife came to your city ; she knew precisely where her hus- 
band was to pass as he marched away. She took her position on the pavement, 
and finding a flag, she begged leave just to stand beneath those sacred folds and 
take a last fond look on him she, by possibility, might never see again. The hus- 
band marched down the street, their eyes met ; a sympathetic flash went from 
heart to heart. She gave one shout, and fell senseless upon the pavement ; and 
there she lay for not less than thirty minutes in a swoon. It seemed to be the 
departing of her life ; but all the sensibility was sealed up, it was all sacrifice. 
She was ready to meet this tremendous sacrifice upon which we have entered, and 
I trust you are all ready. I am ready. God help me to do my duty. I am 
ready to fight in the ranks or out of the ranks. Having been educated in the 
Academy ; having been in the army for seven years ; having served as commander 
of a volunteer company for ten years ; and having served as an Adjutant-General, 
I feel I am ready for something. I only ask to be permitted to act, and in God's 
name give me something to do." 

Professor Mitchel's actions were, as patriotic as his words. He tendered, at 
the earliest possible moment, his services to the Government in any capacity in 
which they saw fit to employ him. At first, however, there was no position which 
the Government regarded as such as was suited to him, whose worth and abilities 
they well knew, which was not already filled by some one who, if less capable, 
could not well be displaced. There were also other obstacles to his immediately 
entering upon the service. The aflau's of the two observatories must be so ar- 
ranged that they could without detriment be left to others ; his business affairs, 
in which his sons had become interested, must also be placed on a different foot- 
ing ; and last, though by no means least, the companion of his life, who for many 
years had been an invalid, but had for some months manifestly improved in 
health, was again smitten down, and this time with mortal sickness, in August, 
1861, just as all other obstacles were removed and he had accepted the command, 



ORMSBT MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 29 

as Brigadier-General, tendered him by the Government. Her illness was brief, 
and laying her, who had been the partner of his joys and sorrows for more than 
a quarter of a century, to rest in the quiet shades of Greenwood, the hero and 
pliilosopher buried his sorrows in his heart and went forth to fight the battles of 
his country. He was first connected with the army of the Potomac, but saw no 
active service there. He was next assigned to a command in Cincinnati and the 
country adjacent on both sides of the 'Ohio River, and soon after was ordered to 
join the department of the Ohio, under the command of Major-General Buell, 
and was the first ofiicer to enter Bowling Green, at the head of his brigade. From 
that city his command, which at this time was a division, marched in the van to- 
ward Nashville. On the capture of that city, he made a forced march toward 
Corinth, taking with him but a single brigade of his division. He then made a 
feint of attacking Chattanooga, and having caused the enemy to concentrate their 
force there, he turned suddenly toward Fayetteville, and making a forced march, 
seized the railroad midway between Corinth and Chattanooga, and thus broke the 
rebel line of communication and held the towns along that railroad for a distance 
of nearly two hundred miles completely under control Every movement looking 
to revolt against his authority, or the insulting of his soldiers, was promptly and 
sternly repressed. Athens, Alabama, one of the larger towns on the route, had 
been remarkable for the bitter hostility of its citizens to the Union army, and the 
command of the rebellious town was assigned by General Mitchel to Colonel, now 
General, Turchin, an ofiicer of Russian birth of decided energy and ability, whose 
vigorous measures soon brought the insolent rebels to terms. Complaint was 
made by some of the rebels to General Buell of Turchin's severity, and the Gene- 
ral, who inclined to the rose-water policy, ordered a court-martial to tiy Turchin. 
General Mitchel sustained his faithful and vigorous subordinate, and thereby in- 
cuiTcd Buell's displeasure, in consequence of which he asked to be relieved of his 
command. But the Government could not dispense with the services of so ener- 
getic and faithful a General as Mitchel, and after remaining a short time without 
a command he was appointed to succeed General Hunter as commander of the 
department of the South, and entered upon the duties of his ofiice on the sixteenth 
of September, 1862. The energy which had characterized him at the West was 
not relaxed in his new field of action. The discipline of his army was greatly im- 
proved ; old abuses were checked, order took the place of disorder and confusion, 
and the care and management of the freedmen, or " contrabands " as they were 
popularly called, which had been a difficult problem in that department fi-om the 
first, was rendered simple and easy by his executive skill. Satisfied that the 
Government would soon see the desirableness of emplojring the able-bodied among 
them as soldiers, he did not deem it wise to forestall its action, but directed his 
energies to the elevation and improvement of their social and intellectual condi- 



30 ORMSBT MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 

tion. He encouraged them to adopt the habits and customs of the more intelli- 
gent of the colored peojjle of the North, and to evince their right to fi-eedom by 
making their conduct worthy of freemen. He caused a model house for a negro 
family to be built, and then offered to furnish lumber and to pay a premium to 
those who would build houses equal to this, and in a short time he had a village 
of good, substantial houses going up for the freedmen, as different as possible from 
the filthy cabins in which they had previously vegetated, and each with its garden- 
plot fenced in. He encouraged schools among them, and in every way stimulated 
their ambition and energies till an observer would have deemed it impossible that 
the enterprising and manly negi'oes of Hilton Head could have been the stolid, 
unimpressible slaves of a year before. 

His activity was equally manifest in military affairs. He believed in con- 
stantly harassing the enemy, and as his force was insufiicient for any of those 
great military undertakings in which ho would have most delighted, he resolved 
to make the best of it in smaller enterprises. An expedition was sent to St. 
John's Eiver, Florida, which was successful in breaking up several small garrisons 
of the rebels, in destroying vessels and cargoes which were prepared for running 
the blockade, and in takiqg possession of some towns of importance ; another at- 
tacked and destroyed the extensive salt-works of the enemy at Bluffton, thus de- 
priving them of a large portion of their supply of that important article. A third, 
on a larger scale, was sent on the twenty-first of October, under the command of 
Brigadier-General Brannan, to Pocotaligo and Coosahatchie Elvers, to burn the 
bridges and break the railroad communication between Charleston and Savannah ; 
but this, which General Mitchel had intended at first to command in person, was 
but partially successful, owing to the plan of it having been by some traitor com- 
municated to the rebels, who had, in consequence, rallied a strong force and forti- 
fied positions where they could repel the attacks of the approaching force ; and 
though some bridges were destroyed, yet the heavy loss incurred by the attacking 
force made the expedition practically a failure. 

But in the midst of his usefulness, and with plans for securing the triumph 
of the Union arms in his department as yet unaccomplished, this brave and ener- 
getic commander was suddenly called to surrender to a relentless and powerful 
foe. Death came, and with ruthless hand bowed the strong man whom no hard- 
ships could cause to falter, and after a brief illness, laid him in the grave. The 
yellow fever made its appearance at Hilton Head on the twentieth of October ; on 
the twenty-sixth. General Mitchel was taken with the disease in its worst form, 
and died on the thirtieth. His death was perfectly in keeping with his life. 
Though suffering severely, he was calm and collected and in full possession of his 
faculties to the last. The Christian's hope, which had sustained him amid all his 
trials and bereavements in the past, was his stay and support in the trying hour. 



ORMSBT MACKNIGHT MITCHEL. 



31 



" It is a blessed thing," he said to Mrs. Gage, " to have a Christian's hope in a 
time like this." The great responsibilities of his position were laid aside with the 
utmost composure, as he felt that the time had come for him to die, and uttering 
the words, " I am ready to go," and pointing upward when speech failed, he passed 
away " as sinks the summer sun to rest." In the quiet shades of Greenwood, by 
the side of her he loved so well in life, the astronomer, patriot, and hero sleeps 
quietly tiU the trump of the archangel shaU. waken his dust to the never-ending 
life of eternity. 



THEODORUS BAILEY. 

THE acliievements of our navy were the pride of the nation in the war of 1812. 
On the outbreak of the present rebellion the people looked hopefully, fi-om 
the Potomac blockaded and the squadron inactive in Hampton Roads watching the 
erection of the enemy's batteries, to a period when it would vindicate its old renown. 
At length the hoped for period an-ived. Foote led off on the Mississippi ; String- 
ham at Hatteras ; Goldsborough in Albemarle Sound ; Du Pont at Charleston ; 
and Fai-ragut at New-Orleans, and then the navy had solved the problem as to the 
relative value of guns ashore and guns afloat, and proved that if the revolutionary 
batteries of General Moultrie on Sullivan's Island did drive off a British fleet, it 
would not hold that therefore the Southern coast could be protected from the 
American navy. 

Amongst the long list of gallant officers who have added new lustre to 
this service Admiral Theodorus Bailey has manfully done his share, and de- 
serves something more than a passing notice. He was born at Chateaugay, in 
Franklin County, on the northern border of the State of New- York, in the year 
1805. His father. Judge William Bailey, was one of the early settlers of the great 
northern wilderness, having married the daughter of one of the patentees of 
Plattsburgh, to which place he soon afterward removed. As a boy, standing on 
the shore of the lake. Admiral Bailey witnessed McDonough's victory, and saw 
the pride with which the victors were greeted, and determined that he too would 
be a sailor. His uncle. General Theodorus Bailey, (a Senator from New- York,) was 
fortunately able to aid his aspirations, and on the first of January, 1818, at the 
early age of less than fourteen years, he obtained his first commission. It would 
be covering too much space to follow him through the twenty-six years of active 
duty and the various gi-adations of rank. He twice made cruises around the 
world, and served under the old flag in every climate and sea, and always with 
credit, never having become involved in any difficulty with the department, his 
superiors, or messmates, but earning the reputation of an efficient, enterprising, 
and faithful of&cer. At length, on the breaking out of the Mexican war, he was 
assigned to the command of the Lexington, an old razee, rated as a store-ship, and 
carried out from the port of New- York to California Captain Tompkins's (regular) 
battery, and a number of officers of the army, amongst whom were Lieutenants (now 
Generals) Halleck, Sherman, and Lozier, and a large amount of munitions of war. 




^=^^yAH.Ri«J>'-" 



CO.M. THEODORUS BAILEY. 



THKODORUS BAILEY. 33 

Arriving on the coast, after reporting to the commander-in-chief and discharging 
his cargo, the Lexington was assigned to duty as a cruiser, and cooperated with 
Colonel Benton in the conquest and holding of Lower California, capturing San 
Bias and other places. In this duty Lieutenant Commanding Bailey's zeal and 
efficiency were complimented by his superiors, and gave great satisfaction. He 
was soon after promoted to the gi'ade of commander. His next command was the 
sloop-of-war St. Mary's, in which he again visited the Pacific and cruised for three 
years. One of the incidents of this voyage was the an-ival of the St. Mary's at 
Panama immediately after the massacre. Captain Bailey took promjDt and effi- 
cient measures to protect the lives and property of American citizens in the future 
and seek indemnity for the past, and closed his correspondence with the Governor 
in these words : " I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your replies to 
my communications of the twenty-second and twenty-fourth, (April, 1856.) Apart 
from the announcement of the restoration to the owners of the cannon and arms 
illegally taken fi'om the steamer Taboga, I must confess they afford me little satis- 
faction. I had expected, when asking for information as to the causes of the 
fiightful occurrences of the fifteenth, that, apart fi.-om the immediate origin of the 
tumult, you would have deemed it due to yourself, as the chief magistrate of this 
communrty, to state why and wheref^^ie you undei-took the fearful responsibility 
of ordering your police to fire upon my countiymen, women and children, and to 
state what steps you had taken to punish the guilty and restore the plunder. Ten 
days have elapsed since the catasti'ophe, and I have yet to learn that a single 
criminal has been arrested, or that any portion of the immense amount of valua- 
bles taken from the passengers and railroad company has been restored. I have 
yet to learn that your high ' consciencia de mis deberes i la inteligencia de I0& 
grandes intereses que se ligon a la conservacion de esta line de transito universal ' 
extended any further than to order an indiscriminate massacre of the passengers 
over this transit I have yet to discover that when a riot or collision shall take 
place here between foreigners on the one side and natives on the other, that you 
recognize any higher obligation on yom- pai-t than to protect and assist the latter, 
and to disarm, murder, maltreat, and plunder the former. Is it possible that your 
Excellency recognizes but one party to a riot, that you shelter yourself under the 
philosophic assurance that the fearful catastrophe of the fifteenth instant was the 
result of ' elementos tarn hetorogenos como los que forman nuestra poblacion y la 
emigi-acion Californiana.' This conclusion, I regret to state, affords me little 
assurance of the safety of the transit for the future, unless your Excelteney shall 
devise some most speedy and efficacious method for rendering these unfortunate 
elements less ' heterogeneous ' hereafter. The police who took part in this honi- 
ble tragedy now guard the lives and property of the transit passengers. The 
' Jendarmeria ' who, with the same philosophy as your Excellency, deemed it best 



34 THEODORUS BAILEY. 

in the late emergency to destroy tlie foreign ' element,' are the reliable means of 
protection which your Excellency will furnish us to any extent for the future ; 
and it no doubt should be a source of gratification that they have, since the fif- 
teenth instant, (the St. Mary's being present,) permitted the passengers and trea- 
sure of the steamers Uncle Sam and Golden Age to make the transit without mur- 
dering the one or plundering the other. I am, with the force under my command, 
but from eight to ten days removed fi-om my Government, and am therefore 
bound to submit to their judgment the manner in which the fearful accountability 
which you have incuiTcd shall be investigated, and to their decision the indemnity 
which shall be demanded for the jDast and security for the future ; meanwhile I 
shall do all in my power to avert any danger that may occur to the transit passen- 
gers, from whatever quarter it may come and under every emergency, without 
relying on your Excellency's Jendarmeria. In directing my first communication 
to your Excellency, I had no desire to listen to apologies for certain parties or cer- 
tain acts, but an earnest wish to know what you did toward punishing the parties 
concerned in this frightful atrocity. I wanted action not sophistry — the names 
of criminals arrested — the officials dismissed — and some allusion to plunder re- 
stored, not unmeaning phrases or flattery. That I have not been thus gratified I 
have no doubt arises from the fact that you deem the origin of the affair a suffi- 
cient justification for its frightful conclusion. I shall here take my leave of your 
Excellency as a correspondent, and shall have the honor to submit your two com- 
munications to my Government, presuming they will not be more satisfactory to 
them than to me." 

The foregoing letter is inserted to show that Captain Bailey has a talent for 
correspondence, although a little Jacksonian in style, and that Seuor Don Franco 
de Falnega, Acting Governor of Panama, had cause to be thankful that the writer 
was only eight days distant from his Government, for the safety of his tawny dy- 
nasty under the frowning batteries of the St. Mary's and with her marines near to 
his strong places. The character of a man is often better judged by his own 
letters than the pen of his biographer. This caustic effusion shows the mood of 
the tough old sailor smarting under a sense of insult to his flag, and burning to 
redress it, but with his hands tied from redress by a want of authority, of techni- 
cal not of physical power. He evidently applied to this particular Governor the 
result of his experience of Spanish officials, based u^Don his old Mexican observa- 
tions, and is more frank than complimentary. 

On the news of the bombardment of Sumter, Captain Bailey, then at Platts- 
burgh, N. Y., hastened to Washington and asked an opportunity for service. 
He was at once assigned to the command of the steam frigate Colorado, repaired 
to Pensacola, then held by the insurgents, and became a teiTor to the rebels by his 
restless activity. Finding General Harvey Brown in command at Fort Pickens, 



THEODORUS BAILEY. 35 

he cooperated witli him in the operations there planned, and matured the details 
of an expedition to the mainland and the capture of Ban-ancas, which for no want 
of his was not carried out. Seeing a privateer (the Judith) lying at the dock at 
Pensacola, he planned a cutting-out expedition. The first reconnoissance he made 
in person, is thus gi-ajDhically described in a letter from an officer : 

" On the night of the third of August we were sent by the flag-ofi&cer into 
Pensacola harbor to reconnoitre, and if possible capture some of the schooners 
or steamers of the rebels. We started fi-om the ship as soon after dark as our 
movements would be obscured and concealed from the numerous glasses and 
telescopes constantly pointed at us from the forts and works of secessiondom, 
passed into the harbor with five boats. Captain Bailey, of the Colorado, who com- 
manded, leading in his light gig, without being observed by the rebel forts or bat- 
teries. The night was dark, and after rowing about the harbor and finding that 
there were no vessels anchored off that we could prey upon, we pulled in for the 
' navy-yard,' which, perhaps you have heard, is defended by a strong battery. 
Treating the rebel sentries' hails of ' boat ahoy, who comes there ?' with silent con- 
tempt, we pulled steadily in with the boats. Leaving them off the pier end, the 
captain went in the slip with his gig to see what could be done ; found a schooner 
tied up to the wharf by the guard-house and a guard of soldiers mustering on the 
wharf by her. The long-roll was being beaten, and a general mustering of rebel 
forces, together with sending up of rockets and a fire-balloon as a signal of attack, 
we thought it prudent to retire, which we did, with the boats, without a shot be- 
ing fired on either side. We knew or were informed previously at ' Pickens ' 
that .the wharf where we found the schooner was defended by two thirty-two- 
pounders and two howitzers, but were in hopes to have found the schooner tied 
\ip somewhere else than at the wharf immediately alongside of the guard-house, 
where we could not burn her without lighting up the whole harbor and sacrificing 
our boats to their point-blank fire. As it was, ~"' "■'■"•e the rebels a terrible fright, 
and as we retired we could hear the long-roll beat and see the batteries all lit up 
from the navy-yard to Fort Barrancas. We do not intend to let General Bragg 
send all his troops to Manassas with impunity. He must keep at least five thou- 
sand men here to make his position a safe one, for the fleet, the regulars, and the 
' pet lambs' are all watching him with deep interest." 

A few nights afterward the boats, under the command of the gallant Lieuten- 
ant Eussell, of the Colorado, went in and burned her at the dock, the Captain 
being prevented by etiquette from depriving his jur'^r of this chance for distin- 
guished service. From Pensacola he was orderer' co the South- West Pass to 
blockade the mouth of the Mississippi and cooperate with Admiral Farragut in 



36 THE ODOR us BAILEY. 

tlie conquest of New-Orleans. The iron-clads were daily expected down tlie river 
to attack the fleet, and Captain Bailey made ample preparations and longed for 
their coming, confident in his ability to fight his ship. At length the order came 
to cross the bar, and every exertion was made to get the Colorado over in vain, 
her draught preventing it. Determined not to remain on lier inactive, Captain 
Bailey, although suffering from the effects of a recent surgical operation, asked 
of Admiral Farragut a command. His sei-vices were at once accepted, and most 
of tlie guns and men of the Colorado were distributed amongst the gunboats, and 
her commander hoisted Ms flag as commander of tlie Division of the Eed or second 
division, on the gunboat Cayuga, commanded by Captain N. B. Harrison, as gal- 
lant a sailor and as loyal a Virginian as our navy ever possessed. 

His reports to the Secretary of the Navy tell the story of the fight : 

"United States Gunboat Cayuga, 

At Sea, May 7, 1862. 

" Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy : 

" Sir : Having found it impossible to get the Colorado over the bars of the 
Mississippi, I sent up a large portion of her guns and crew, filling up deficiency 
of both in the different vessels, and with my aid. Acting MidshijDman Higginson, 
steward, and boat's crew, followed up myself, hoisting by authority of the Flag- 
Ofiicer my red distinguishing flag as second in command, first on the Oneida, 
Commander Lee, and afterward on the Cayuga. 

" That brave, resolute, and indefatigable oflScer, Commander D. D. Porter, 
was at work with his mortar-fleet, throwing shell at and into Fort Jackson, while 
General Butler, with a division of his army in transports, was waiting a favorable 
moment to land. After the mortar-fleet had been playing upon them for six days 
and nights, without jjerceptibly diminishing their fire, and one or two changes of 
programme, Flag-Ofiiccr Farragut formed the ships into two columns, ' line ahead,' 
the column of the red, under my orders, being foiTued on the right, and consisted 
of the Cayuga, Lieutenant Commanding Harrison, bearing my flag and leading 
the Pensacola, Captain Morris ; the Mississippi, Commander Smith ; Oneida, 
Commander S. P. Lee ; Varuna, Commander C. L. Boggs ; Katahdin, Lieutenant 
Commanding Preble ; Kineo, Commanding Eansom ; and the Wissahickon, Lieu- 
tenant Commanding A. W. Smith. 

" The column of the blue was formed on the left and up the river, and con- 
sisted of flag-ship Hartford, Commander E. Wainwright, and bearing the flag of 
Commander-in-Chief Farragut ; the Brooklyn, Captain T. T. Craven ; the Eich- 
mond. Commander Alden ; the Scioto, bearing the divisional flag of the fleet, 
Captain H. H. Bell, followed by the L-oquois, Itasca, Winona, and Kennebec. 



THEODORUSBAILEt. 37 

" At two A.M. on tTie morning of the twenty-fourtli, the signal to advance was 
thrown out from the flag-ship. The Cayuga immediately weighed anchor and led 
on the column. We were discovered at the boom, and a little beyond both Forts 
opened theii- fires. When close up with St. Philip we opened with grape and can- 
ister, stiU steering on. After passing their line of fire, we encountered the Mont- 
gomery flotilla, consisting of eighteen gunboats, including the ram Manassas, and 
the iron battery Louisiana, of twenty guns. 

" This was a moment of anxiety, as no supporting ship was in sight. By 
skilful steering, however, we avoided their attempts to butt and board, and had 
succeeded in forcing the surrender of three, when the Varuna, Captain Boggs, and 
Oneida, Captain Lee, were discovered near at hand. The gallant exploits of these 
ships will be made known by their commanders. At early dawn discovered a 
rebel camp on the right bank of the river ; ordering Lieutenant Commanding N". 
P. Harrison to anchor close along, I hailed and ordered the colonel to pile up his 
arms on the river-bank and come on board. This proved to be the Chalmetto 
regiment, commanded by Colonel Szymanski. The regimental flag, tents, and 
camp equipage were captured. 

" On the morning of the twenty-fifth, still leading and considerably ahead of 
the line, the Chalmetto batteries, situated three miles below the city, opened a 
cross-fire on the Cayuga. To this we responded with otir two guns. At the end 
of twenty minutes the flag-ship ranged up ahead and silenced the enemy's guns. 
From this point no other obstacles were encountered except burning steamers, cot- 
ton-ships, fire-rafts, and the like. Immediately after anchoring in front of the 
city, I was ordered on shore by the Flag-Officer to demand the suiTcnder of the 
city, and that the flag should be hoisted on the Post-Office, Custom-House, and 
Mint. What passed at this interview will be better stated in the Flag-Of&cer's re- 
port. On the twenty-sixth, I went with the Flag-Ofiicer some seven miles above 
the city, where we found the defences abandoned, the guns spiked, gun-carriages 
burning. These defences were erected to prejrent the downward passage of Cap- 
tain Foote. On the twenty-seventh, a large boom, situated above these defences, 
was destroyed by Captain S. Phillips Lee. On the twenty-eighth. General Butler 
landed above Fort St. Philip, under the guns of the Mississippi and Kineo. This 
landing of the army above, together with the passage of the fleet, appears to have 
put the finishing touch to the demoralization of their garrison. Both Forts sur- 
rendered to Commodore Porter, who was near at hand with the vessels of his 
flotilla. 

" As I left the river. General Butler had garrisoned Forts Jackson and St. 
Philip, and his transports with troops on board were on theii' way to occupy 
New-Orleans. 

" I cannot too strongly express my admiration of the cool and able manage- 
ment of all the vessels of my line by their respective captains. 



38 THEODORUS BAILEY. 

" After we had passed the Forts it was a contest between iron hearts in 
wooden vessels and iron-clads with iron beaks, and the ' iron hearts ' won. 

" On the twenty-ninth, the Cayuga, Lieutenant Commanding Harrison, was 
selected to bring me home, a bearer of despatches to the Government 

" I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"Theodorus Bailey, Captain." 

"United States Steam Gunboat Catitqa, 

At Sea, May 8. 
" Hon-. G. Welles, Secretary of the Navy : 

" Sir : I have the honor to inclose herewith a duplicate of the report of 
Commander Boggs, late of the Varuna, and attached to my division of the attack- 
ing force. This gallant officer came up to my support when I had more of the 
enemy's steamers attacking rae than I could well attend to. I afterward saw him 
in conflict with three of the enemy's steamers, and directed Commander Lee, of 
the Oneida, to go to his support, which he did in a most dashing manner. Com- 
mander Boggs's description of the loss of his vessel I believe to be accurate. I 
saw him bravely fighting, his guns level with the water, as his vessel gradually 
sunk underneath, leaving her bow resting on the shore and above water. 

"I have the honor to be your obedient servant, 

"T. Bailey, Captain." 

Admiral Farragut in his despatch says : " Captain Bailey, on the Cayuga, 
(Lieutenant Commanding Harrison,) was in advance, and received the most of the 
fire ; but although the shooting was good, they did not damage his little vessel." 
Again : " I send Captain Bailey home as bearer of despatches. He has done his 
work nobly, and that while suffering under an infirmity which required attention 
and repose." 

After the fleet had passed the Forts, Captain Bailey landed and canied to 
the City Hall a summons to surrender. On his way he was suiTounded by a con- 
stantly swelling and infuriated mob,* lost to all sense of restraint, cheering for Jeff" 
Davis and Beauregard, and shouting, "Kill him," "Hang him to a lamp-post," 
" Don't let him go back alive," and all manner of insults and personal abuse. As 
he strode sturdily along, accompanied only by his aid, Midshij^man Higginson, 
of the Colorado, amid the press of the mob, occasionally his hand would be 
grasped, or a whisper di'opped in his ear, "Glad to see you," "Why didn't you 
come before?" showing the existence of the much-talked of Union element even 
then and there. Captain Bailey freely admits that for the first time in that infu- 
riated mob he experienced a sense of danger. Once only he stopped to speak, 
and then throwing them off on either side, he exclaimed : " Why, even Fejee 
Islanders respect a flag of truce." He reached at last the Mayor's ofiice in safety, 
the preliminaries were arranged, the city surrendered, the flag restored, and Cap- 



THEODORUS BAILEY. 39 

tain Bailey hastened to Washington to lay the good tidings before the Govern- 
ment. There, at New- York, at Plattsburgh, and other places he was received 
with such demonstrations of pojDular good will as more than compensated for the 
hardships through which he had passed, the Mayor, Common Council of the 
city of New-York, the Chamber of Commerce, and other public bodies uniting 
in showing him honor. He was soon aftei'ward raised to the rank of Commo- 
dore. In order to afford him an opportunity to undergo a second surgical ope- 
ration, he was assigned to the command of Sacketts Harbor. After remaining 
there a few months, on his urgent application for sea-orders, he was assigned, as 
Acting Eear- Admiral, to the command of the Eastern Gulf blockading squadron, 
consisting of some twenty-six vessels, on the coast of Florida, between the squad- 
rons of Admirals Du Pout and Farragut. 



NATHANIEL LYON. 

NATHANIEL LYON was born at Asliford, Windham county, Connec- 
ticut, in the month of June, 1819. He was the son of Amasa Lyon, a 
farmer. He entered the United States Military Academy at "West Point, July 
1st, 1837 ; was graduated in 1841, and appointed a second-lieutenant in the 
second regiment of infantry. He served in Florida, in the latter pajt of the 
Seminole War, was subsequently stationed for several years at different posts 
on the Western frontier, and was promoted, in February, 1847, to be first-lieu- 
tenant. Upon the commencement of the war with Mexico, Lieutenant Lyon 
was ordered to active service in that country. He joined General Taylor at 
Monterey, and accompanied his regiment when it was detached from the com- 
mand of General Taylor to that of General Scott. He served at the bombard- 
ment of Vera Cruz, and in the battle of Cerro Gordo. In the battles of Contre- 
ras and Churubusco, he commanded his company, and in the report of the ofiicer 
who led the regiment on that day was recommended to the special notice of the 
brigade commander. He also participated in the capture of the city of Mexico, 
and was wounded by a musket-ball in the assault on the Belen gate. For " gal- 
lant and meritorious conduct" in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco he re- 
ceived, in August, 1848, the brevet of Captain. 

When the war with Mexico was ended, Lyon was ordered to California. He 
reached that country soon after its acquisition by the United States, and remain- 
ed there several years, chiefly employed against the Indians. The full rank of 
Captain was conferred upon him June 11th, 1851. From California, Captain Lyon 
was again ordered to the Western frontier, and served in Kansas and Nebraska 
in the height of the political troubles there. While upon this duty he took great 
interest in the various questions which divided the people, and became strongly 
opposed to the position of the Democratic party, though previously he had 
always believed and acted with it. Several articles written by him during the 
summer and fall of 1860, and published in a Kansas newspaper, express his 
hope for the country in the election of the Eepublican candidate for President 
in the pending canvass. These articles are written with manly \'igor, and in- 
dicate in every line an earnest jiatriot and a bold, energetic thinker. 

Captain Lyon was the United States officer in command of the arsenal at St. 




Sag^Tij A.a.BM*^" 



Ge-N^. ;NA'rTL%'XTEL JSYOy. . 



NATHANIELLYON. 41 

Louis, Missouri, when, on May Ctli, 1861, the police commissioners of that city 
formally demanded the removal of the United States soldiers from all places oc- 
cupied by them outside the arsenal grounds. Captain Lyon declined compliance 
with the demand, and in reply to the charge of the commissioners, that such 
occupancy was in derogation of the constitution and laws of the United States, 
required to know what provisions of the constitution and what laws it violated. 
Thus rebuiFed, the commissioners referred the matter to the governor and legis- 
lature of the state. Not long before, the governor of Missouri had authorized 
the formation of camps of instructioii in various parts of tlie state, and on May 
4:th such a camp had been formed under the supeiwision of General Frost at 
Lindell's Grove, near St. Louis. Taken with the action of the commissioners 
and the general tendency of affairs, Captain Lyon regarded the concentration 
of this force near him as directly hostile, and on May 10th, suddenly surrounded 
the camp known as Camp Jackson, with a large force of the state "Home 
Guards," the then newly organized volunteer regiments under Blair and Siegel, 
and twenty-three pieces of artillery, planted his guns on the heights around the 
camp, and sent in to General Frost ii\e following letter : 

" Headquarters V. S. Troops, 

St. Louis, Mo., May 10th, 1861. 

" Gen. D. M. Fhost, commanding Camp Jackson : 

" Sir : — Your command is regarded as evidently hostile toward the govern- 
ment of the United States. It is for tljp most part made up of those secessionists 
who have openly avowed their hostility to the general government, and have 
been plotting at the seizure of its property and the overthrow of its authority. 
You are openly in communication with the so-called Southern Confederacy, which 
is now at war with the United States, and you are receiving at your camp from 
the said confederacy and under its flag, large supplies of the material of war, 
most of which is known to be the property of the United States. These extra- 
ordinary preparations plainly indicate none other than the well-known purpose of 
the governor of this state, under whose orders you are acting, and whose pur- 
pose, recently communicated to the legislature, has just been responded to by 
that body in the most unparalleled legislation, having in direct view hostilities to 
the general government and co-operation with its enemies. 

" In view of these considerations, and of your failure to disperse in obedience to 
the proclamation of the President, and of the eminent necessities of state policy 
and welfare, and the obligations imposed upon me by instructions from Wash- 
ington, it is my duty to demand, and I do hereby demand of you, an immediate 
surrender of your command, with no other conditions than that all persons sur- 
rendering under this demand shall be humanely and kindly treated. Believing 



42 NATHANIEL LYON. 

myself prepared to enforce this demand, one lialf-hour's time, before doing so, 
will be allowed for your compliance therewith. 

" Very respectfully your obedient servant, 

" N. Lyon, Capt. 2d Infantry, commanding troops." 

General Frost, upon consultation with his subordinate officers, found his 
command unable to resist the force of General Lyon, and he accordingly sur- 
rendered his whole command prisoners of war. This quick and severe blow at 
rebellion in Missouri awakened great joy in the hearts of all the Union men in 
that state, and when, four days later. General Harney arrived at St. Louis and 
assumed the command there, Captain Lyon was elected to the command of the 
first brigade of Missouri volunteers. On May 15th, he effected the occupation of 
Potosi, whence a body of rebels was driven, and also caused in rapid succession 
several important seizures of war material in various parts of the state. No other 
United States officer exhibited equal activity in the discharge of his duty. 

By agreement with General Price of Missouri, General Harney committed 
himself to a course of inaction, and was removed, and General Lyon was thus 
left in command of the department. May 31st. But Harney's agreement with 
General Price had contemplated the disbandment of the state troops in arms 
upon the governor's requisition ; they refused to disband, and the governor 
declared that the interests and sympathies of Missouri were identical with 
those of the slaveholding states, and that they necessarily united her destiny 
with theirs, and the legislature passed a military bill, which General Lyon 
pronounced "so offensive to all peaceable inhabitants, and so palpably un- 
constitutional, that it could be accepted by those only who were to conform 
to its extraordinary provisions for the purpose of effecting their cherished ob- 
ject — the disruption of the Federal government." Lyon therefore announced 
to the people, by proclamation, that his duty required him to act against the 
so-called state forces, and he accordingly moved from St. Louis, June 17th, toward 
Jefferson City, with a force of the Missouri Home Guard Volunteers, and some 
United States troops. Governor Jackson, upon Lyon's approach, endeavored 
to impede his march by the destruction of Moreau bridge, abandoned Jefferson 
City, burning the bridges behind him, and retreated to Booneville. Lyon pur- 
sued in boats up the Missouri river, and on the same day landed four miles be- 
low Booneville, found the rebels posted in the road near that place, immediately 
opened fire upon them, and drove them from their position. They fell back and 
formed again in the woods, whence they kept up a sharp fire upon the national 
forces. General Lyon then ordered a feigned retreat, and when the rebels were 
well drawn from their cover in pursuit, he opened upon them a severe fire of ar- 
tillery and musketry, and they were dispersed in complete rout. Lyon's force 



NATHANIEL LYON. 43 

was about two tliousand, and his loss was very small. The rebel force was about 
four thousand, and their loss in killed and wounded was nearly one hundred. A 
great many of their men were made prisoners. General Lyon then issued a procla- 
mation from Booneville, in which, after a statement of the facts in relation to the 
battle, he said : "I hereby give notice to the people of this state, that I shall 
scrupulously avoid all interference with the business, right, and property of every 
description recognized by the laws of the state, and belonging to law-abiding 
citizens. But it is equally my duty to maintain the paramount authority of the 
United States with such force as I have at my command, which will be retained 
only so long as opposition makes it necessary, and that it is my wish, and shall be 
my purpose, to visit any unavoidable rigor arising in this issue upon those only 
who provoke it." 

General McCulloch, with a large force, was at this time in the south- 
western part of the state, and was soon joined by General Price with some por- 
tion of the Missouri rebels, and subsequently by Parsons and General Eains. 
Lyon left Booneville to march against them July 3d. His small force swelled 
as he advanced, and when he reached Springfield, July 20th, he had under 
his command ten thousand men ; but this force had again decreased to six 
thousand by August 1st. On that day at five p. M., General Lyon marched to 
look for the rebels, who were said to be in motion toward Springfield, and 
not finding them, bivouacked ten miles south of the town. Early the next 
day the march was resumed, and about noon, at a place called Dug Spring, the 
rebels were reported in sight. A halt was ordered, and while a reconnoissance was 
made, two companies of regular infantry were thrown forward as skirmishers, 
supported by a company of cavalry. This force encountered a body of about 
five hundred rebels, and a warm fire was exchanged. The national infantry was 
hard pressed, when this advanced body of the rebels was entirely scattered by a 
brilliant charge of the cavalry. The rebels rallied, however, engaged the infantry 
again, and having received support fonned a line to advance, but at this juncture 
Captain Totten's artillery was brought to bear, and after a few discharges scattered 
them for the day. Next morning, August 3d, the march was continued six miles 
further, but the enemy made no stand, and, unable to bring on a general action, 
and being out of provisions, and with many of his men ill, Lyon marched his 
force back to Springfield, which he reached August 5th. Generals McCulloch, 
Price, Rains, and Colonel Parsons, were then known to be in motion toward Spring- 
field with a combined force variously reported at eight, twenty, and twenty-four 
thousand men, well-armed and effective. They reached "Wilson's Creek, ten miles 
south-west of Springfield, August 6th, and encamped there. General Lyon, thus 
vastly outnumbered, and left without reinforcements, saw but little hope for success, 
and a council of his of&cers advised the abandonment of Springfield and a fur- 



44 NATHANIEL LYON. 

tlier retreat : he determined, however, to attack the rebels in tlieir camp, and for 
that purpose marched from Springfiehl on the 9th, at sunset, with but httle over 
five thousand men. His force was disposed in two columns. The right or main 
column comprised four regiments and a battalion of volunteers, five companies 
of regular infantry, one company of artillery recruits, and two batteries of artil- 
lery, and was commanded by General Lyon in person. The left column was com- 
manded by Colonel Siegel, and was made up of two battalions of volunteers and 
six field-pieces. The rebel camp stretched along Wilson's Creek for three miles, 
and it was intended that the two columns should attack it at nearly opposite ex- 
tremities. Lyon's column encountered the rebel jiickets near the northern end of 
their camp at five p. M., and one of his volunteer regiments was soon warmly 
engaged with the rebel infantry, whom they drove from an eminence, on which the 
national artillery was immediately posted and opened fire. Repeated attempts 
of the rebels to carry this position were repulsed, and the battle merged into this 
endeavor on the part of the rebels, luitil Siegel made his attack in the rear and 
fired their baggage train, when they desisted from their attempt against the bat- 
teries and the battle was virtually relinquished. 

From the first attack General Lyon had actively assisted and encouraged his 
men where the fight was thickest, and was thrice wounded. Near nine A. M., 
when the enemy was about to make one of his several attempts against Totten's 
battery, the first Iowa regiment was brought up to relieve, in its support, the 
Kansas first and second. This regiment had lost its colonel, and when Lyon 
ordered it to prepare to repel the enemy with the bayonet, the men called upon 
him to lead them. He had been standing by his horse, but now mounted to 
lead the charge, and gave the word. The rebels did not stand, but delivered 
their fire and broke. General Lyon was struck by a rifle-ball in the breast. 
He fell into the arms of his body-servaiit and expired almost immediately. 
His fall was not generally observed, and the battle continued for several hom-s 
after it. 

Four months after General Lyon's death, on the 20th December, 1861, the 
following resolution was introduced into the United States Senate from the 
House of Representatives, and unanimously concurred in : 

" Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of 
America in Congress assembled, That Congress deems it just and proper to enter 
upon its records a recognition of the eminent and patriotic services of the late 
Brigadier-General Nathaniel Lyon. The country to whose service he devoted 
his life will guard and preserve his fame as a part of its own glory. Second, 
That the thanks of Congress are hereby given to the brave officers and soldiers 
who, under the command of the late General Lyon, sustained the honor of the 
flag, and achieved victory against overwhelming numbers at the battle of Spring- 



NATHANIELLYON. 45 

• 

field, in Missoiiri ; and that, in order to commemorate an event so honorable to 
the country and to themselves, it is ordered that each regiment engaged shall 
be authorized to bear upon its colors the word ' Springfield,' embroidered in 
letters of gold. And the President of the United States is hereby requested 
to cause these resolutions to be read at the head of every regiment in the army 
of the United States." 

Previous to its adoption, however, Senator Pomeroy, of Kansas, delivered 
an eloquent tribute to the general's memoiy as follows: 

" Mr. President : The resolutions which have just been read to the Senate were 
introduced to the House of Representatives by the distinguished member from 
St Louis, and passed the House very unanimously. I trust they will in like 
manner pass the Senate. But to me there is one reason why they should re- 
ceive at least a passing notice. The state of Kansas was largely interested in 
that battle at Wilson's Creek, near Springfield, and the country and mankind 
have a large interest in the fame of the immortal Lyon, who fell in that battle. 
Such a man and such a general is not often found, and very rarely combined in 
one person. Perhaps I may be pardoned here for saying that I had the pleasure 
of a personal acquaintance with General Lyon for years ; and it was an acquaint- 
ance formed and matured under the most impressive circumstances. The early 
struggles for the freedom of our own state were not unlike in their nature the 
present struggles of the nation. The same questions, to a great extent, entered 
into the one that now convulse the other. The same interests, passions, and 
barbarity, so disgraceful to our age and humanity, entered as largely into that 
struggle as in the present. 

" Greneral Lyon, whose deeds and fame now belong to the whole countiy, was 
then Captain Lyon, of the regular army, stationed at Fort Riley, in Kansas. 
He had for ten years served the country in that capacity, and without promo- 
tion. He was as true a soldier as ever stood in the line of battle ; a sagacious 
officer, strict in habit and discipline, and an honest man. 

" His attention to me, on an occasion of great personal fatigue and exposure — 
taking me to his quarters, welcoming me to all his comforts, and then loaning 
me his own horse, fresh and strong, and taking in charge mine exhausted and 
worn, were acts of generosity and kindness that I shall never forget. The ele- 
ments of a friendship cemented by unity of sentiment and principle, in an hour 
of great extremity, are the most enduring attachments of this life. 

" As Captain Lyon, he sympathized with the free state men of Kansas, 
espoused their cause, and vindicated their rights in the presence of superior 
army officers and government appointees, who were, even there, as false to their 
country, to fi-eedom, and to God, as secession itself He was then, as always, 
an earnest man, true among the false, faithful among the faithless, devotedly 



46 NATHANIEL LYON. 

attaclied to the Union that he loved, the constitution that he vindicated, and the 
flag of his country for which he died. 

" Comparisons are odious, and I hesitate to draw them. Still, amidst the 
general inactivity so prevalent on the Potomac, and so discouraging to live men, 
it is refreshing to notice that when the order was for Captain Lyon to take and 
capture General Frost's command at Camp Jackson, the ink was scarcely dry on 
the order before that work was accomplished. 

" The 10th day of May will be forever memorable in St. Loiiis as a day when 
one decisive blow, struck by one decided officer, forever freed that city from 
subjection to the rebellion. And there she remains to-day a proud monument, 
her edifices standing in towering magnificence, vindicating that policy, and safe 
amidst surrounding desolation. 

" One Friday morning in June last, Claib. Jackson, the so-called governor of 
Missouri, issued his proclamation, declaring war against the United States forces 
in Missouri. That very afternoon, before the sun went down. General Lyon 
commenced moving his little army of two thousand seven hundred men upon 
steamboats, at St. Louis, and was soon under way for Jefferson City, the capital. 
On the following Sabbath evening, he took possession quietly of that capital. 
The rebels, governor, and officers, and soldiers, had fled, burning bridges, and 
spreading destruction in their train. Before Monday morning, he commenced 
•moving a portion of that little invincible army to Booneville, fifty miles farther 
up, where he engaged the enemy and dispersed them, taking the city. Thus, I 
say, it is refreshing to see that there was one general who could move his army 
three hundred miles in three successive days, and have a battle and a victory ! 
General Lyon moved south from Boone\'ille toward Springfield, in the wake of 
the fleeing rebels, who were retreating into Arkansas. After several successful 
skirmishes about Springfield, restoring order and quiet, he halted there for 
reinforcements. On his way there, he was joined by one regiment from Iowa 
and two from Kansas. 

" And now may I be allowed to pause in my argument a moment to say that 
these two regiments were only the first generous offerings of our young state 
to the cause of the country? But the flower and pride of our young state 
were in them. These were of the kind of men who spring spontaneously 
to their arms in an hour of danger. They mustered in as infantry in the 
month of June, and were ordered immediately into Missouri. Thank God 
there were no wretched traitors in Kansas left unhung to rise up against 
their country, and to seek the overthrow of the government. So our troojDS 
were ordered into Missouri — many of them without one day's notice. The 
first day's march of one regiment was forty-five miles in twenty-two succes- 
sive hours, without baggage-wagons or ambulances. And before they could 



NATHANIELLYON. 47 

be provided with clotliing or shoes, they were ordered onward and still onward 
into Missouri ; and when they had joined General Lyon at Springfield, they had 
marched over three hundred miles ; and one of the regiments had only seven 
baggage- wagons ! A part of the Kansas and Iowa regiments, under an order 
from General Sweeney, were marched in two days from Springfield to Forsyth, 
sixty miles, and had a battle ; and after dispersing the rebels, returned to Spring- 
field in two and a half days ; and during this unjaaralleled marching, over two 
hundred of these brave men were entirely destitute of shoes. 

" But the memorable day about which cluster all the interests of that south- 
western campaign was the 10th day of August, 1861. Upon the evening of the 
9th, as darkness quietly settled down into the valleys, and light lingered blush- 
ingly upon the hill tops, this little army of five and a half thousand men set out 
to meet twenty-five thousand and engage them in conflict. They marched by 
two different routes all night, and at daybreak came upon the enemy encamped 
upon Wilson's Creek. Immediately, without waiting on points of etiquette, 
General Lyon formed the line of battle. And here began, at five o'clock in the 
morning, the conflict of arms — more terrible and destructive, according to num- 
bers, than ever engaged men on this continent before. From the beginning to 
the close, for six and a half hours, the firing was incessant and terrific. At half- 
past ten o'clock the man of all men there — the general of all generals in this war 
— fell at the head of one of our regiments, leading them gloriously onward to 
victory. He placed himself there in a moment, in response to the call of these 
men as unconquerable as himself General Lyon had before, that day, been twice 
wounded, and had one horse shot under him. He resisted all entreaties for 
refreshments, willing to hazard every thing himself, anxious only for his men 
and their cause. He neither faltered nor complained, until the fatal shaft entered 
the life fountain, and the 'golden bowl was broken.' He thus sunk quietly to 
rest, amidst the din of battle and the smoke of the contest — the WaiTen of this 
war. The battle went on, though its leader had fallen. Few of either ofiicers 
or men knew what had occurred. The enemy being repulsed, retui-ned with 
fresh regiments, again and again, but returned only to retreat in confusion, 
leaving their trail strewn with the fallen. Our troops advanced and took posses- 
sion of the field. The rebels, in fear, now burned their own baggage-wagons. 
Vohrmes of smoke rolled up firom every side of the battle-field, and concentrat- 
ing above them, hung the heavens in a drapery of mourning. The rebels were 
receding, and the firing ceased altogether. ***** 

" Thus ended the 10th day of August, 1861 ; evening shadows, caoling 
the heat of both sun and fire ; our troops marched regularly to camp. And I 
now say, in contradiction to much that has been written and said, that that 
battle was a triumph. It was a costly one ; nevertheless a victory. What other 



48 NATHANIEL LYON. 

battle-field was ever ■won more triumpliaiitly ? I do not allow the fact ttat there 
were not reinforcements on hand sufficient to hold that whole country, to detract 
from the brilliant triumph of our arms that day. It was a battle of five thousand 
five hundred men against twenty-five thousand ; and a victory of the few over 
the many ; showing again that 

" ' Thrice armed is he who hath his quarrel just.' 

"The hero of that battle sleeps beside other graves, in his dear native 
valley. He has been literally ' gathered to his fathers.' There need be no 
monument of marble or granite for him. All the way from St. Louis to Connec- 
ticut his remains were honored by tributes of respect from a grateful people. 
I had the melancholy pleasure of seeing the almost spontaneous gathering of his 
old friends at Hartford. They honored suitably the noble dead. In that they 
honored themselves. From Hartford to Eastford, where he now sleeps, the way 
was all marked by tokens that were becoming to a returning conqueror. The 
dear old people at home have garnered up his memory ; it shall be to them as 
endearing as liberty and life." 





■&^?ly AH-Bittl*^ - 



/ 



MA.]; GEN. FRANZ SICEL. 



FEAIiZ SIGEL. 

NEVER engaged in any battle where the side upon which he fought could 
fairly claim an unqualified victory ; and never engaged in a separate com- 
mai;d where he was not compelled to retreat, Franz Sigel yet keeps a sure hold 
upon public confidence, and a perusal of his career compels the acknowledgment 
of his thorough soldiership, and his ability as a general. This can only be the 
result of some real power in the man, for the world — and especially our world 
• — is too fond of success to overlook disaster ; and unless fully impressed with 
the conviction that a better chance than he has hitherto had would show a better 
result, it would not hesitate to cry down the soldier whose only fault has been an 
utter want of luck, that great constituent of military fame. 

Fra^z Sigel was born at Zinsheim, in the grand duchy of Baden, Novem- 
ber 18th, 1824. His father held the important position of Kreisumtman— the 
highest magistrate in the county of Bruchsal. Franz received a liberal edu- 
cation, and was graduated from the military school at Carlsruhe, whence he 
entered the regular army of Baden. Rapid advance is not common in that 
service, yet the young lieutenant had reached the post of chief-adjutant in the 
year 1847, and in this perhaps, we may see the benefit of his fathers position. 
But when the revolution broke out in Southern Germany, young Siegel openly 
sympathized with it and was even said to have been compromised in Struve's 
premature attempt to revolutionize his native state ; through these difi&culties he 
lost his commission in the Badish army. All Germany was at that period 
divided upon the great question of a central government — with a liberal con- 
stitution, and the cashiered lieutenant at once cast his fortunes with the 
liberal party. He entered the contest with the natural ardor of a young soldier 
already martyred in what he believed to be the cause of his country and of 
fi-eedom. Various journals agitated the cause on the part of the liberals, and for 
these Sigel wrote earnestly against the government, and in favor of a new one. 
He thus acquired a considerable influence with the people, and became prom- 
inent among the leaders of the movement. In March, 1849, a preliminary 
parliament was held at Frankfort, which issued a call for a National Assembly to 
meet in May, and to submit a plan of government. Disturbances in Rhenish 
Bavaria anticipated the action of the assembly thus called, and were denounced 
by the opponents of the liberal movement, as only the trickery of the agitators, 



50 IFRANZSIGEL. 

intended to make changes in the government appear more necessary, and to com- 
mit the people in advance to whatever revolutionary measures might be brought 
forward at Frankfort. Prussian soldiers were immediately marched into Ehenish 
Bavaria. Scarcely had the Prussians moved than the liberalists in the grand 
duchy of Baden made common cause with those in Ehenish Bavaria, and about 
twenty thousand persons publicly assembled at Offenburg in Baden, passed a 
series of resolutions, to the effect that the movement in Rhenish Bavaria should 
be supported, that the constitution voted by the .National Assembly should be 
acknowledged, and that officers in the army should be chosen by the private 
soldiers. Many soldiers were in attendance, and one of the resolutions that re- 
ferred to them secured their adherance. On the same day the fortress of Eastadt 
was seized by the soldiers of the garrison, and disturbances broke out at 
Carlsruhe. By ten o'clock that night, the grand duke and his ministers were in 
full flight, and the state was in the hands of the liberal party A " National 
Committee" assumed the powers of government. Lieutenant Eichfield was made 
minister of war, and Lieutenant Sigel became prominent among the young 
officers whose fortunes were in the movement, and who were ready to organize 
and lead a popular army. With the state itself there had fallen into the hands 
of the liberals, seven millions florins in coin, two and a half in paper, and 
seventy thousand muskets, besides those in the hands of the army. The army 
numbered seventeen thousand men. Some energetic measures were taken by 
the new government ; but, in accordance with the revolutionary idea, the army 
was ordered to choose its officers anew. Doubtless, this was the death-blow of the 
revolutionary cause, for it virtually deprived the state of its army. Discipline 
was destroyed, and all organization entirely lost. " Soldiers appeared on parade," 
says an eye-witness, "in what they had indiscriminately jDlundered from the 
stores at Carlsruhe. Shakos, helmets, caps, great-coats, frocks, full-dress and un- 
dress uniforms, all figured in the same ranks Officers and privates, arm-in- 
arm, and excessively drunk, reeled through the streets." Eaw recruits rose to 
the rank of major in a day, and a similar disproportion between service and posi- 
tion prevailed throughout. Head-quarters were established at Heidelberg, and 
there Lieutenant Sigel arrived May 19th. 

Five days later, a meeting of liberals near the frontier, in Hesse-Darmstadt, 
was dispersed by the Hessian soldiery, and Lieutenant Sigel was ordered to lead 
the revolutionary army of Baden across the frontier. Four battalions of the line, 
with about six thousand volunteers, were reviewed at Heidelberg previous to the 
march ; and Sigel, as commander of the troops, issued a manifesto, in which was 
set forth the reasons why he prepared to enter the territory of Hesse-Darmstadt. 
But Mieroslawski, a Pole, who had been called to the chief command, arrived 
before the troops moved, and Sigel lost this early chance of distinction. 



FRANZ SIGEL. 51 

The revolutionary force, between ten and twelve thousand strong, marched 
May 28th. ■ On the 1st of June, the " National Committee" was superseded by a 
" Provisional Government"- — formed of the same men as the committee had been 
— and Sigel was made minister of war. From that period he necessarily exer- 
cised a controlling influence upon the struggle ; but, though no serious blow had 
yet been struck, the strength of the cause was gone. Bad counsel had prevailed ; 
the army was already ruined ; the volunteers who came forward to fight fell 
into the radical German error, confounded personal with political freedom, and 
were consequently impossible to control ; and the confidence of the people was 
lost. Moreover, the leaders themselves appeared to have lost faith in the move- 
ment. Yet, under the administration of the young minister, a far from con- 
temptible resistance ■was made to the united imperial and Prussian armies. 

Active operations against the revolutionary forces began about the first of 
June ; and an imperial army, under Peucker, advanced from Furth in two col- 
umns, and came up with the army under Mieroslawski, near Weinheim, on the 
14th. Mieroslawski attacked Peucker's front and right flank, posted in the vil- 
lage of Grossacken, at six, A. M., on the 15th, and obtained some advantage, but 
was repulsed, though the battle continued till night. Peucker renewed the battle 
on the 16th, and suffered severely from Mieroslawski's artillery, but drove the 
latter from his position. Both sides claimed the victory, and Mieroslawski re- 
gretted his inability to pursue, through want of cavalry ; but each fell back to 
the position occupied previous to the fight on the 15th. 

Peucker was superseded in command of the imperial army by the Prince of 
Prussia, who proclaimed the grand-duchy of Baden in a state of war, and that all 
offenders against military law should be tried by court-martial, and, if deemed 
necessary, punished with death. Mieroslawski withdrew his forces from his posi- 
tion near Weinheim to "Waghausel on the Rhine, whither he was followed by the 
Prince of Prussia, whom he attacked, June 22d. He was again beaten, however, 
and retreated to the upper Neckar and the region of the Black Forest. Sigel, 
though minister, was present, and took an active part in these battles. After 
their victory at "Waghausel, the Prussians crossed the ISTeckar, came up with the 
revolutionary forces at Ettlingen, beat them again, and drove them across the 
Murg. Mieroslawski now abandoned the cause and fled, and Sigel assumed the 
chief command. With his broken and demoralized forces he made a splendid 
retreat, and reached the fortress of Eastadt without loss of a gun. Here the 
most considerable portion of the revolutionary army was now left, while Sigel 
endeavored to rally further resistance in other quarters, and concentrated a force 
at Salem, in the Badish lake district. But the members of the provisional gov- 
ernment were already fugitives, and Eastadt was invested; and, though some 
further resistance was offered, it was at best but a guerilla warfare, and was soon 



62 FRANZSIGEL. 

abandoned by Sigel, who entered Switzerland, July llth. Driven from tlie 
Swiss territory, in common with all other fugitives from Baden, by, the decree 
of the government of the Helvetic confederation, he was compelled to seek a fur- 
ther refuge, and reached the United States in 1850. He took up his residence 
in New York city, became associated in the conduct of an academy in Market 
street, and man-ied the daughter of the principal of that academy. Dr. Dulon. 
He also took an active interest in the volunteer militia organization, and even 
held the position for some months, under Colonel Schwarzwaelder, of major in 
the fifth regiment. 

In September, 1858, Sigel removed from New York to St. Louis, where he 
was employed as a teacher in the German- American Academy, when the present 
war became imminent. Peace had perhaps become ennuyante after ten years, and 
Sigel immediately determined, in the event of war, to take an active part. 
Known as a soldier of experience, he obtained a colonel's commission, and, upon 
the first call of the President upon the people, he organized a regiment of his 
countrymen, which, under the designation of the third Missouri, was incorpo- 
rated, May 15th, in General Lyon's first Missouri brigade. This regiment was 
one of those enlisted for thi-ee months. Under Sigel's command, it participated 
in the seizure of Camp Jackson, where, posted with Blair's regiment, and four 
pieces of artillery, on the ridge to the north of the rebel position, it guarded the 
main approach to it, and prevented the possibility of assistance being received 
by the rebels from St. Louis. This movement was efiected with a celerity and 
precision that spoke highly for the degree of discipline to which the regiment 
had already attained. After the capture of this rebel force. Governor Jackson 
was known to be very active in the organization of another at Jefferson City, and 
General Lyon apprehended that the intention was to make a sudden movement 
upon St. Louis. He therefore posted the several regiments under his command 
at the various avenues of approach to the city, to guard against this movement, 
and also to intercept supplies and munitions of war which it was endeavored to 
send from St. Louis to the rebel governor at the state capital. In discharge of 
this duty. Colonel Sigel with his regiment was posted to the west of the city, in 
Lindall's Grove, and performed efiicient service there. 

Just previous to the battle at Booneville, Mo., rebel military organizations be- 
came very active toward the Arkansas border, and Ben M'Culloch was known to 
be in motion with forces for the assistance of Jackson and Price, -then at JeSer- 
son City. Eather to watch, perhaps, than to fight these forces. Colonel Sigel was 
ordered for active service in the extreme south-western part of Missouri, and left 
St. Louis with six companies of his regiment on the night of June 11th, followed 
on the next day by the other four companies. Colonel Salomon's regiment, the 
fifth, was subsequently added to his command, which also included the various 



FRANZ SIGEL. 53 

home-guard organizations of the district. Squads of men were detached all along 
the Pacific railroad, to guard the bridges, and keep open communication ; and 
from Eolla, the terminus of the road, Colonel Sigel marched his force to Spring- 
field, and thence extended his line of operations westward to Sarcoxie. After 
the battle of Booneville, and when the forces of Jackson and Price were in full 
retreat toward the Arkansas border, all eyes were turned toward Colonel Sigel, 
then the only man in a position to intercept them, and news from his command 
was breathlessly expected from day to day. Throughout the state more was 
likely to be expected from him then than a calm review of his force would just- 
ify ; for his whole command numbered less than three thousand men, and his 
line of operations was nearly three hundred miles in extent. Yet the bulk of his 
force was gathered to the west of Springfield, for there was evidently the critical 
point, and toward that point Major Sturgis pressed hurriedly forward with his 
Kansas men ; and with his face turned that way, the earnest Lyon hurried the 
preparations for his march from Booneville. From Booneville, Jackson had re- 
treated to Lexington, and every day contradictory reports .of his movements 
reached Sigel. Now he had formed a junction with Price, with Rains, with 
Parsons, or with M'CuUoch, and his force was reported at every number from 
six hundred to ten thousand. Moreover, this united force was represented at 
various times to be upon every road by which it could possibly reach the Arkan- 
sas line. Sigel's duty to watch or intercept this body with such a part of his own 
command as he could have at any one place, was thus no light one ; and still 
Lyon did not move, and Sturgis was heard from very far away. 

Sigel, with only his own regiment, arrived in Sarcoxie on Friday, June 28th, 
at five p. M., and there learned certainly that Price, with between eight and nine 
hundred men, was encamped to the south of Neosho, twenty-two miles west of 
Sarcoxie ; and that Jackson's troops, under command of Parsons, and another 
body, under General Eains, were to the north, near Lamar. He determined to 
march against Price, near Neosho, and to attack subsequently those to the north. 
He accordingly marched from Sarcoxie on the morning of the 29th ; but, on the 
same morning, the rebel camp at Neosho was broken up, and the troops there 
stationed fled. Sigel then ordered the battalion of the fifth regiment, at Mount 
Vernon, under Colonel Salomons, to join him at Neosho ; and as soon as they 
liad arrived, he moved forward, leaving one company in Neosho, and on the 
evening of the 4th of July encamped on Spring Eiver, one mile to the south-east 
of Carthage, the county seat of Jasper county. The troops had marched twenty 
miles that day. Colonel Sigel ascertained that Jackson, with four thousand men, 
was only nine miles distant, encamped on the prairie. His own force consisted 
of nine companies of the third regiment, seven companies of the fifth regiment — 
in all nine hundred and fifty men — with two batteries of artillery, of four field- 



54 F R A N Z S I G E L . 

pieces each. Witli tliis force he moved, on the morning of July 5th, to attack 
the rebels. Dry Fork Creek was passed six miles north of Carthage, and after a 
further march of three miles, Jackson's force .was found drawn up in order of 
battle, on an eminence which rises gradually from the creek, and is about a mile 
distant. Jackson's front presented three regiments, one regiment of cavalry being 
on each wing, and the centre being formed of infantry, cavalry, and two field- 
pieces ; other field-pieces were posted on the wings. The force in this line was 
computed at two thousand fiye hundred men. Behind it was a large force in 
reserve. Colonel Sigel detached one cannon, and an infantry company, to pro- 
tect his baggage, three miles in the rear, and at about nine, A. M., opened fire with 
his artillery. The fire was promptly answered, and the rebel cavalry moved for- 
ward on his flanks, and threatened to turn them. Notwithstanding this move- 
ment, Colonel Sigel continued his fire until that of the enemy was sensibly weak- 
ened, when he ordered the guns to be advanced. Captain Wilkins, commander 
of one of the batteries, at this moment announced that his ammunition was 
exhausted. Both wings were also engaged with the rebel cavalry, and the loss 
of the entire baggage became imminent. A retreat toward Dry Fork Creek was 
accordingly ordered ; and at that point, after a junction with the baggage-train, a 
stand was made for upwards of two hours, and a heavy loss inflicted upon the 
enemy. Meanwhile, the rebel cavalry had completely surrounded Colonel Sigel's 
cdmmand, and formed a line in his rear, on Buck Branch, a little creek which it 
was necessary that he should pass. At this point a feint was made toward either 
flank of the enemy's line, which drew his whole force into the road, and exposed 
it to the fire of the national artillery. One round was fired, and the infantry 
charged at double quick, and completely routed these two regiments. From this 
point the march was undispvited, until Sigel's command reached a ridge to the 
north of Carthage, on the Springfield road, where the enemy again took positioiL 
Here a severe fight occuiTcd, the hardest of the day. The enemy was driven 
from his position, and the Union force obtained cover in a wood, which rendered 
the enemy's cavalry for the time useless. After the men were somewhat rested 
in the wood, the march was continued to Sarcoxie, which they reached at two, 
A. M., on the 6th. Reliable accounts represented the rebel loss on this day at 
three hundred and fifty men, while the whole loss in Sigel's command was but 
thirteen killed and thirty-one wounded. 

Soon after the battle near Carthage, the whole Union force in Missouri sub- 
ject to the command of General Lyon was concentrated at Springfield. While 
they remained there, the three months for which Colonel Sigel's regiment was 
enlisted exjrjired, and he began to reorganize it for the war. Inspired by their 
whole association, and especially by the recent fight, with high admiration of and 
entire confidence in their colonel, six hundred of his men re-enlisted, and the 



FRANZ SIGEL. 55 

regiment was soon filled up by recruits from the neighborhood of Springfield and 
from St. Louis. When, in the beginning of August, General Lyon left Spring- 
field upon his first march in search of the rebel army, Colonel Sigel accompanied 
him with a battalion of the third regiment, was present at the Dug Spring skir- 
mish, and returned to Springfield with the general. 

Lyon determined, on the 9th of August, to attack the rebels in their camp 
on Wilson's creek, and with this purpose divided his force into two columns : 
the right he commanded in person, and the command of the left was intrusted to 
C^onel Sigel. Sigel's division consisted of a battalion of the third regiment, 
unaer Lieutenant-Colonel Albert ; a battalion of the fifth, under Colonel Salomon 
— only nine hundred men in the two battalions ; six pieces of artillery, and two 
companies of cavalry of the United States army. It should be remembered that 
the men of the fifth regiment were on this occasion volunteers in a double sense, 
as the term of their enlistment had expired eight days before ; and that the third 
regiment was composed in a great degree of recruits who were imperfectly drilled, 
and had never been under fire. Moreover, the field-pieces were not served by 
practiced artillerymen, but by men taken from the infantry regiments. Sigel's 
command left Camp Fremont, south of Springfield, at sunset on the 9th, and at 
daybreak on the 10th was within a mile of the south-eastern extremity of the 
enemy's camp. Here the advance was very slowly and carefully made, and a 
large number of piisoners was taken before the rebels had discovered the prox 
imity of the Union forces. Four pieces of artillery were planted on a hill in 
sight of the rebel camp, a line formed to support them, and when the firing an- 
nounced that Lyon's attack had begun, the four pieces opened a very destructive 
fire. Under cover of this, the infantry advanced, drove out the enemy, and 
formed nearly in the centre of his camp ; whereupon the artillery was als6 moved 
forward, and, after some minutes, the enemy was driven into the woods in confu- 
sion. In order to render all possible assistance to Lyon's attack. Colonel Sigel 
now advanced still more to the north-west — further, it is said, than had been con- 
templated in the plan of attack — and even received a very destructive fire fi-om 
Totten's battery. Taking a position near a farmhouse, he formed his men across 
a road that he supposed the enemy would follow in retreat ; and meanwhile the 
firing in Lyon's direction almost entirely ceased, and it was supposed that the 
attack had been successful. This was the state of afiairs at half-past eight 
o'clock, when it was reported to Colonel Sigel by his skinnishers that " Lyon's 
men were coming up," along the very road which he had supposed the rebels 
would take, and the infantry and artillery were notified not to fire on men com- 
ing in that direction. Lyon's men were thus momentarily expected, when a 
strong column of infantry appeared; two batteries simultaneously opened fire 
on Sigel's men, and the infantry also. Great confusion spread in the national 



56 FRANZ SIGEL. 

ranks, and the cry was raised that Lyon's men were firing on them. Order cotdd 
not be restored in time to avail, and the rebel infantry advanced to within ten 
paces of Sigel's guns, and killed the horses. Salomon's regiment broke, and 
could not be rallied ; Sigel's also broke, but was partially rallied, and brought 
away one gun. Thus repulsed, Sigel could only make the best of his way to 
Springfield, which he did, and there formed a junction with the other column, 
learned of Lyon's death, and assumed the command as next in rank. Prepara- 
tions were made the same night for a further retreat, and at daybreak on the lltli 
the whole command moved toward the Gasconade Eiver, which, contrary to .ex- 
pectation, was reached without a fight. But before that river was passed, sOme 
question as to his actual rank was raised ; and, though it was known that Sigel 
had then been confirmed a brigadier-general, the fact that he had not received 
his commission was insisted upon, and the command was assumed by Major 
Sturgis, of the United States army, who conducted the retreat to Rolla. 

Franz Sigel received his commission as a brigadier-general of volunteers, 
August 17th. On the 19th he arrived in St. Louis, where he was enthusiasti- 
cally received by his German fellow-citizens, upon whom his recent achievements 
had made a great impression. He remained in St. Louis several weeks, confer- 
ring with the commander of the department upon the various measures necessary 
for the march southward of a large force, and left that city to take command of 
the advance — the largest division of Fremont's army — then posted at Georgetown 
and Sedalia. He arrived in Sedalia Sejjtember 28th, and on October 13th 
marched from that place for Warsaw, " with siofficient force to open the way ;" 
passed the Osage at Warsaw on the 16th, and reached Springfield, to the great 
joy of its inhabitants, October 27th. Sigel's command was at this time in splen- 
did condition. To all the wants and grievances of his men he gave personal 
attention, mingled with them on the march and in camp, and cheered them 
through every difficulty. He was consequently a great favorite, and they were 
enthusiastically eager to follow him in the actual strife. But while the advance 
still remained at Sjoringfield, General Fremont was removed from the command, 
his plan of campaign was abandoned, and Sigel with his brigade retraced his 
steps to Rolla. New measures were now inaugurated. General Hunter assumed 
the command, and we hear of activity in every part of the state, upon both sides ; 
and the rebels are roughly handled in several places ; Price again advances to 
the Osage, and again retires ; but in all these movements we hear but little of 
Sigel. And thus it continued for the remainder of October, for November and 
December ; and while all was movement, life, and triumph around him, he fret- 
ted in compulsory inactivity, till it seemed that he was forgotten, or that there 
was an intention to ignore his past services. From this state of affairs a rumor 
easily spread that it was his intention to resign his commission, and general 



FRANZ SIGEL. 57 

credence was given to it. " For a long time," said one of his friends, " things 
have looked as though the intention were to trifle with him. Where he sowed, 
where he was first in the field and was the first to strike, and while his name 
rang, like that of Mars, from every German lip throughout the Union, and helped 
to fill the camps, others are now to reajD the harvest." 

General Sigel did indeed feel that injustice had been done to him, and that 
he had been improperly interfered with in his command. Finally, it appeared to 
him impossible to retain his position under the circumstances and with a proper 
regard to his self-respect ; and on the 31st of December, therefore, he tendered 
his resignatioi}. General Halleck, to whom the resignation was sent, at St. Louis, 
did not, it is said, immediately forward it to Washington. General Sigel, when 
infoiTaed of this, reiterated the tender, January 14th, and demanded the imme- 
diate dispatch of his letter to head -quarters. He was, however, compelled on 
January 27th to tender his resignation for a third time, which was not accepted. 



Al^DEEW HULL FOOTE. 

ANDREW HULL FOOTE was bom in New Haven, Connecticut, Septem- 
ber 12th, 1806. His father, Samuel A. Foote, well known in the political 
history of Connecticut in the early part of the present century, as a member of 
the legislature and governor of the state, served also several terms in Congress ; 
and was in 1830 the mover, in the United States Senate, of the resolution com- 
monly known as " Foote's resolution on the public lands," which gave rise to the 
celebrated debate between Daniel Webster and Robert Y. Hayne. 

Young Foote was intended by his parents for one of the learned j^rofessions, 
but exhibiting a strong inclination for a sea-life, he was allowed, in December, 
1822, to enter the navy as acting midshipman, and made his first cruise in the 
schooner Grampus, Commander Gregory, which formed part of the squadron 
under Commodore Porter, dispatched in 1823 to the West Indies, to chastise the 
pirates who infested those waters and preyed upon American commerce. Hav- 
ing participated with credit in this dangerous service, he obtained a midshipman's 
warrant, and in 1824 joined the Pacific squadron under Commodore Hull. In 
1827, he passed his examination for passed-midshipman ; in 1830, he was com- 
missioned a lieutenant ; and in 1833, he was ordered to join the Delaware, sev- 
enty-four, bearing the broad pennant of Commodore Patterson, as flag-lieutenant 
of the Mediterranean squadron. D.uring his service on this station he visited 
every accessible place of historic interest, and with a party of brother-officers 
explored many parts of Egypt and the Holy Land, extending his journey to the 
Dead Sea and the adjacent regions. In 1838, he was appointed first-lieutenant 
of the sloop-of-war John Adams, in which he accompanied Commodore Read in 
his voyage of circumnavigation, participating in the attack upon the towns of 
Quallahbattoo and Abuckie, in the island of Sumatra, which had become a noted 
rendezvous of pirates ; and rendering effectual service to the American mission 
aries at Honolulu, in obtaining the publication of their defence, and in supporting 
them against the false chai-ges of the Frencli commander, La Place. 

From 18-41 until 1813, Lieutenant Foote was stationed at the Naval Asylum, 
in Philadelphia, where his efforts were beneficially directed to ameliorate and 
elevate the condition of the inmates. A consistent advocate, from his youth 
upward, of total abstinence from spirituous liquors, he had not failed during his 



ANDREWHULLFOOTE. 59 

experience of sea-life to observe the demoralizing influenee upon sailors of an 
habitual indulgence in drinking, even when it did not produce intoxication. 
"Waiving for the time any notice of the plea, so frequently urged, that the severe 
labors and hardships imposed upon the sailor compel him to resort to grog as a 
stimulant (which he did not believe, his opinion being that " whiskey-rations are 
evil, and only evil, and that continually"), he maintained that the case of the 
retired pensioner differed essentially from that of the sailor on active duty, and 
that the former would be happier and better without his grog. With admirable 
address, he prevailed upon many of the "old salts" under his charge to take the 
temperance pledge, and to. the surprise of the incredulous carried out his predic- 
tions to the letter, the institution showing a marked improvement in discipline 
and order during the jjeriod that he was connected with it. The reform thus 
commenced twenty years ago, by an earnest advocate of total abstinence, has 
since been extended to the entire service, and in the estimation of experienced 
persons will greatly raise the standard of its personnel. 

On his next cruise, which he made in the frigate Cumberland, in 1843-'45, 
as first-lieutenant, Foote tested his theory of the benefits of total abstinence upon 
a sea-going crew, whom he succeeded in persuading to give up their grog. The 
spirit-room was accordingly emptied of its contents; and the improvement in the 
moral as well as the physical condition of the men was perceptible in the high 
order of discipline soon attained, and which made the Cumberland a model ship. 
Nor did Lieutenant Foote stop here. Having established sobriety and order in 
the ship, he directed his attention to the religious instruction of the crew, and 
delivered weekly a Sunday lecture on the berth-deck, at which nearly two hun- 
dred of the men voluntarily attended. Many of them also took jjart in pi-ayer- 
meetings which usually succeeded the lectui'e. 

Soon after returning home, Lieutenant Foote was ordered to the Charles- 
town navy-yard, where he discharged the duties of executive officer during the 
Mexican War, being prevented from participating in that struggle by a species 
of ophthalmia contracted in Egypt. In October, 1849, he was assigned to the 
command of the brig Perry, and ordered to join the American squadron under 
Commodore Gregory on the coast of Africa. The suppression of the slave-trade 
was the special service assigned to him, and the British squadron cruising in the 
game waters found no more earnest or efEicient co-operator. Several slavers were 
captured and condemned; and the trade was, in fact, broken up along a consid- 
erable portion of the coast — a resul^so satisfactory to the American government, 
that Lieutenant Foote received from the naval department an official recognition 
of his services. This compliment was doubly earned from the fact that, while 
engaging in every effort to put down the nefarious traffic in human flesh, he had 
rigidly kept in view, in hig communications with the British authorities, the 



60 ANDREW HULL FOOT E. 

great principle of the War of 1812, maintaining that "the deck of an American 
vessel under its flag is the territory of the United States, and that no other au- 
thority but that of the United States could ever be allowed to exercise jurisdic- 
tion over it." It is worthy of note also that during this cruise of two and a half 
years, not a drop of grog was served out to the crew, and not an ofiicer or man 
was for any lengthened period on the sick-list (although the station is notoriously 
unhealthy), or was lost or disabled. Lieutenant Foote subsequently embodied 
his observations and reflections on this cruise in an interesting volume entitled 
" Africa and the American Flag," which contains a general survey of the African 
continent in its physical, historical, and social relations, with remarks on the 
progress of colonization and the blighting influence of the slave-trade. Eeturn- 
ing home in 1852, he was promoted to be a commander, and appointed executive 
officer at the Naval Asylum, at which post he remained about a year. 

His next important service was on the "Naval Eetiring Board," composed 
of fifteen of the most competent officers of the navy, to whom was assigned the 
ungracious task of reporting the names of those of their brother-officers who were 
incapacitated by age or other causes from discharging their duties, in order that 
their places might be filled by younger and better men. It may be doubted 
whether the government could have employed a more faithful or conscientious 
person in this service ; and the fact that President Pierce subsequently reinstated 
many officers whose incompetency had been reported by the board, in no respect 
affects the action of Commander Foote and his associates, who simply performed 
a duty imposed upon them by Congress. 

In 1856, he was placed in command of the sloop-of-war Portsmouth, and 
ordered to proceed to the China station. Arriving at Canton in October, just 
previous to the commencement of hostilities between the English and Chinese, 
he landed an armed force in the city for the protection of the American residents, 
whom, in view of the threatening aspect of affairs, he advised to remove their 
property. His boat, carrying the American flag at her stern, having been fired 
upon from the Canton barrier forts while he was engaged in this duty, he re- 
ceived, after urgent solicitation, permission from Commodore Armstrong, his 
commanding officer, to vindicate the honor of the flag by attack upon the forts. 
The Levant was ordered to support the Portsmouth, but grounded in coming up, 
the river, so that the latter vessel was compelled to bear the brunt of the attack 
alone. Anchoring under a heavy fire at the distance of four hundred and ninety 
yards from the nearest fort, she succeeded, in less than two and a half hours, 
in silencing all the forts, four in number ; and on the next day, November 21st, 
in company with the Levant, she renewed the attack with great effect. A breach 
having been made in the nearest fort, which was the strongest of all. Commander 
Foote landed with a force of two hundred and eighty sailors and marines, and 



ANDBEW HULL FOOTE. gj 

carried the work by assault. Within the next two days the remaining forts were 
stormed in the face of a galling fire from the enemy ; and on the 24th, the Amer- 
ican flag waved over all of them. The forts were massive granite structures, with 
walls seven feet thick, mounting one hundred and seventy-six guns, and were 
garrisoned by five thousand men, of whom upward of four hundred were killed 
and wounded. The American loss did not exceed forty. This gallant series of 
actions took place within sight of the British and French squadrons, and greatly 
enhanced the reputation of the American navy as a ready and efficient vindicator 
of the national flag. The foreign officers and correspondents of the English 
newspapers spoke in high praise of the conduct of Commander Foote and his 
men ; and as the Portsmouth and Levant dropped down the river past the British 
squadron, the admiral. Sir Michael Seymoui', ordered the rigging of the ship to be 
manned, while the crew greeted the American vessels with loud cheers, and the 
band played "Hail Columbia" and "Yankee Doodle." The effect of the capture 
of the forts was, to cause the American flag to be thenceforth respected by the 
CMnese, and to open the way for the treaty made in the succeeding year by Mr. 
Eeed. Commander Foote subsequently visited Japan and Siam, on important 
business in behalf of his government, and after a cruise of two years returned in 
June, 1858, to the United States. 

The outbreak of the Eebellion found Commander Foote stationed at the 
Brooklyn navy-yard as executive officer, in which capacity he aided in fitting out 
many vessels of the blockading squadron. In July, 1861, he received his cap- 
tain's commission ; and in the September following he was appointed to succeed 
Commander Rodgers as flag-officer of the flotilla fitting out in the Western waters 
to co-operate with the land-forces in opposing the rebels in that part of the coun- 
try. The obstacles with which he had to contend in prosecuting this work were 
numerous and vexatious ; and in the absence of the means and appliances which 
are always at hand in the government ship-yards, he was obliged to tax his con- 
structive genius to the utmost in order to keep pace with the public expectation, 
working day and night with unflagging energy. " The most difficult and ardu- 
ous work of my life," he wrote to a friend several months afterward, '"has been 
the improvising of the flotilla which, under God, has been so efficient in repress- 
ing rebellion, and in protecting loyal interests upon the magnificent rivers of the 
West. My other acts are more than appreciated — this probably never will be." 
The obstacles were nevertheless overcome with a skill and promptness surprising 
to all who were unacquainted with the man and with the native energy of his 
character , and long before active military operations commenced in the West, 
every one of the vessels comprising the flotilla was completed, and awaiting its 
crew and armament. 

Early in February, 1862, the long-expected advanqe against the enemy com- 



62 ' ANDPvEWHlTLLFOOTE. 

menced witli an attack on Fort Henry, an important position on the Tennessee 
River ; and to Flag-Officer Foote was assigned the privilege of opening the cam- 
paign, and of demonstrating the efficiency of the flotilla in whose equipment he 
had labored so assiduously. His fleet of gunboats, seven in number, of which 
four were iron-clad, entered the Tennessee Eiver on the 5th of February, with 
the design of co-operating with a large land-force, under General Grant, in the 
reduction of the fort ; but the troops not arriving on the ground in season, Foote 
opened fire, at about noon of the 6th, with the gunboats alone, and after a spirited 
action of two hours, in which his vessels were j^retty roughly handled, compelled 
the rebel General Tilghman to make an unconditional surrender. About twenty 
large guns and an immense amount of munition^ fell into the hands of the federal 
commander. The prisoners numbered only about sixty, comprising the remnant 
of the garrison ; a rebel force of five thousand men, encamped outside the foi't, 
having been dispersed by shots from the fleet during the progress of the fight. 
The Cincinnati, the flag-officer's ship, was hit thirty-one times ; but the casualties 
of the fleet, with the exception of the Essex (which received a ghot in her boiler, 
whereby twenty-nine officers and men were injured), were slight. 

Having transferred the fort and prisoners to General Grant, who arrived on 
the ground an hour after the surrendel-, Flag-Officer Foote returned to Cairo, and 
a few days later sailed for the Cumberland River, to assist the land-forces in an 
attack upon Fort Donelson, a work of great size and strength, mounting many 
heavy guns on the water-side. At three o'clock p. M., on the llth of February, 
the fleet moved up to the attack, which for an hour and a quarter was conducted 
with great vigor on both sides, and would have resulted in the capture of the 
fort, had not the St. Louis, Foote's flag-ship, and the Louisville, become unman- 
ageable, by having their steering apparatus shot away, and drifted out of the fire. 
The enemy immediately returned to the guns from which they had been driven, 
and the remaining vessels were obliged to haul off", somewhat the worse for the 
encounter. The St. Louis alone received sixty-one shots, and among the wounded 
was her gallant commander, who was severely injured in the ankle by the frag- 
ment of a sixty-four-pound shot. With no thought of his own sufiering, though 
moving with great difficulty upon crutches, he proceeded up the river in his flag- 
ship immediately after the surrender of the fort to the land-forces under General 
Grant, took possession of Clarksville without firing a gun, and destroyed the Ten- 
nessee Iron- Works, which had been used for the manufxcture of iron jjlatcs for 
rebel steamers. 

After a brief respite at Cairo, Foote sailed down the Mississippi with ]iis 
flotilla, greatly increased in efficiency by the addition 'of the mortar-boats, whose 
construction he had also superintended. The enemy evacuated their strong posi- 
tions at Columbus and Hi(§kman previous to his approach, influenced doubtless 



ANDREW HULL FOOTE. ' 63 

by the ■wholesome teiTor which the gunboats (the " iron hell-hounds," as General 
Pillow called them) had inspired among them ; and on March seventeenth was 
commenced the famous siege of Island Number Ten. Through all the tedious 
episodes of that investment Foote remained faithfully at his post ; althoi;gh, from 
exertion and excitement, his wound grew daily more painful, until it was with the 
utmost difficulty he could ascend the deck of his ship. At length, on the eighth 
of April, the enemy, assailed in fi'ont by the flotilla and in the rear by the troops 
under General Pope, (who, after long delay, had been conveyed across the Missis- 
sippi in boats,) surrendered their works, and the flotilla was at liberty to proceed 
to new conquests. But so debilitated had Flag-Officer Foote become during the 
interval, that, in the opinion of his medical advisers, retirement for a season from 
active service could alone preserve his life. Under these circiimstances, he reluct- 
antly applied to the Government for a leave of absence, and early in May turned 
over his conamand to Captain Davis in an appropriate address to his men, in which 
he was several times completely overcome by emotion. 

His return to his home, in New-Haven, was one continuous ovation, and all 
along the route enthusiastic crowds greeted him with shouts of approval. Public, 
receptions, which he invariably declined, were tendered to him in almost every 
city" through which he passed. " I should be as able to renew the fight with my 
flotilla," he wrote, in reply to the invitation of a committee of the citizens of 
Cleveland, "as to be the recipient of your numeroiis favors ; and I know too well> 
the intelligent citizens of Cleveland to doubt for a moment that they would deem 
this my paramount duty." A few weeks of rest restored him to health ; but the 
opening of the Mississippi, which he had so brilliantly commenced, having by 
that time been so nearly accomplished that the res\Tlt was in no doubt, he was 
called to other duties of not less importance, and on the nomination of the Presi- 
dent, which was confirmed by the Senate, was appointed Chief of the Bureau 
of Equipment and Eecruiting, under the new organization of the navy. He was 
also, though one of the youngest ca|3tains in point of rank in the navy, selected 
by the President — with the entire approbation of the people — as one of the seven 
rear-admirals on the active list authorized by the Act of Congress. 

As his health became more firmly reestablished, the duties of his office grew 
more irksome to him, and he desired to return to active service. In May, 1863, 
his wishes in this regard seemed about to be gratified. A change was decided 
tipon in the command of the South- Atlantic squadron, on which was to devolve 
the siege of Chai-leston, and the eyes of the Government, as well as of the nation, 
were turned at once upon Admiral Foote. The position was offered to him and 
accepted, and, with his usual promptness, he was soon on his way to New-York 
to make preparation for assuming the duties of his new command. But He who 
had been his hope and his trust in all the past had determined otherwise. He was 



64 ANDREW HULL FOOTE. 

to be called to a liiglier position, to a more glorious office, tlian any eartUy poten- 
tate could confer upon him. 

He had but j ust arrived in New-York and taken rooms at the Astor House 
when he was attacked by the disease which, after two or three weeks of suffering, 
terminated his life; So severe was the seizure that the physicians deemed it un- 
wise to remove him, and every attention which Mr. Stetson could bestow was 
lavished upon the dying veteran. His family gathered around him to minister to 
him in his sufferings, and pray and labor for his recovery, and nothing was left 
undone which the tenderest affection could suggest. But the time for his depart- 
ure had come, and no one was more sensible of the approach of death than he, who 
had so often looked it in the face in the day of battle. And what a spectacle of 
heroic faith triumphing over the last enemy did he present ! He was calm, 
thoroughly self-possessed, sent messages of harmony and good-will to his bro- 
ther officers, and especially to Admu-al Du Pont, whom he was to have suc- 
ceeded, expressed his satisfaction that his work was done, that he had not now 
to make his peace with God, and fell asleep, his eyes closing 

" Calmly, as to a night's repose, 
Like flowers at set of sun." 

Within a year previous to his death two of his children had preceded him to 
the Silent Land, and his wife, who had watched so tenderly over his dying couch, 
survived him less than three months. 

His death occurred on the twenty-sixth of June, 1863, and his body lay in 
state for two days at the Astor House, and was then removed to New-Haven, his 
family residence, where his funeral was attended by a vast concourse of the most 
eminent men of the State and nation. 

Thus much for the public services of Admiral Foote. In the peaceful walks 
of private life he showed the same strict sense of duty, the same energy in all 
good works, and withal a modesty characteristic of the true hero. Frank and un- 
assuming in his manners, he was noted for his active philanthropy, his unobtru- 
sive piety, and his endeavors to elevate the moral condition of his race ; and he 
repeatedly vindicated his sincerity in addresses at the religious anniverearies of 
our large cities. His religion was of too earnest a stamp to be repressed or weak- 
ened by ridicule, and on more than one occasion he piiblicly showed how deeply 
it was ingrained in his character. The often-repeated anecdote of his Sunday 
discourse at Cairo is one which history delights to treasure, and is too characteris- 
tic of the man to be omitted here. He had just returned from the capture of 
Fort Henry ; and in the fulfilment of a duty, with which, if possible, he never 
permitted any circumstances to interfere, he attended the regular services at the 
Presbyterian church in Cairo. The preacher, for some reason, was absent, and 



ANDREW HULL FOOTE. 65 

the congregation were about to leave, when Flag-OiBcer Foote arose and ap- 
proached the desk. At the appearance of the weather-beaten veteran, fi-esh from 
his recent victory, " like a servant of the Lord, with his Bible and his sword,'' the 
congregation were with difficulty restrained from breaking into applause. He 
checked them with a look, and, the first murmur of surprise having subsided, 
offered an impressive prayer, to which he added an extempore sermon. The com- 
mander who, emerging from the smoke and roar of a great battle, could stand be- 
fore the people in the character of a preacher of the Gospel, will be acknowledged 
a worthy descendant of the "men who fought and prayed" — the founders of re- 
ligious and political liberty in New-England. 

The orders of Admiral Foote upon assuming command of the flotilla, enjoin- 
ing a rigid observance of Sunday, and an avoidance, by both officers and men, of 
profane swearing and intemperance, are conceived in the same spirit which 
prompted his action on the above occasion, and stamp him as one who believed 
that religion and morals are not the least effective agents in making good sailors. 
A strict disciplinarian, he gained, to an unusual degree, the attachment and con- 
fidence of his crews. He had a decided taste for the pure and healthful enjoy- 
ments of life, and what he coveted for himself he had no wish to withhold from 
others. He always felt a warm sympathy with his men ; he would listen patiently 
to their complaints, promptly redress their grievances, and knew how to put, up 
with a little superfluous jollity on the part of the youngsters. Even his exertions 
to stop the sailors' grog were so evidently prompted by a desire for their welfare, 
that the old salts did not dislike him for it. While on the Mississippi, and before 
the order allowing a commutation of the allowance of grog, he was accustomed to 
punish intoxication on the part of the sailors in a way which evinced at the same 
time the kindness of his nature and his tendency to a sort of dry humor. The 
drunken sailor was on no account to be deprived of his gill of grog, but he must 
take it mixed — in a gallon of water ! 

Among the popular heroes whom the war has produced no one was more 
honored or trusted ; and while such men survive in active duty, the early fame of 
the American navy will be fiilly sustained. 



— ^sS»'£5^J^^>V=»=?r— 



FEEDEEICK W. LAITDEE. 

AT a moment of peculiar peril, the nation was called \ipon to lament the 
death of one of her bravest chiefs. In the midst of the smoke and tumult 
of battle, she paused to twine the cy|Dress-leaf with the laurel she had given him. 

Brigadier-General Feedeeick W. Landee was born at Salem, Massachu- 
setts, in the year 1823. Like Putnam, Stark, and Marion, he was born a soldier : 
the profession of arms was a passion with him &om his youth, and, though the 
graduate of no military academy, he will be remembered among the very ablest 
of those great-hearted gentlemen who have made themselves the bulwark of the 
American republic. 

General Lander's name was first brought prominently before the American 
people in connection with the exploration for a wagon-road to the Pacific, several 
years since. By referring to the state papers, it will be seen how admirably he 
performed his arduous labors. His ofiicial report to the department proves him 
to have possessed fine literary as well as scientific attainments. He would have 
been a poet of no ordinary power, if he had not been so thoroughly a soldier. 

At the breaking out of the present rebellion, he was assigned by General 
McClellan, then in Western Virginia, a position on his staff. In Lander's cool 
daring throughout that successful campaign, particularly at Philippa and Eich 
Mountain, was the ring of the true metal. The people listened to it with hope. 
Upon General McClellan's appointment to the command of the army of the 
Potomac, General Lander accompanied him, and proved an invaluable auxiliary 
in putting fresh strength into the half-demoralized and dispirited forces. Shortly 
afterward, the government dispatched him upon secret service ; he accomplished 
the delicate task with credit to his own discernment, and to the entire satisfac- 
tion of the President. 

On his return from the foreign mission, he was immediately placed in com- 
mand of a brigade in General Banks's division ; and at the aflair at Edwards's 
Ferry, on the 22d of October, 1861, he was for the first time wounded, receiving 
a musket-ball in the leg while gallantly leading his men. He was no holiday 
hero. He shared the dangers of the battle with his humblest private. 

The wound was of such a serious nature, that he was obliged to relinquish 
bis command for several weeks. How patiently he endured the mere physical 




BRIG. G-E:S. LAXDETv 



FREDERICK W. LANDER. Q>7 

suffering, and how lie chafed under tlie galling necessity that kept him a prisoner 
in a sick-room, when his country needed him so much, is known to those whose 
privilege it was to nurse him during that dark period. 

In person, General Lander was a type of strength and masculine beauty. 
Tall of stature, with a countenance that indicated the possession of that impartial 
integrity and nobleness which we associate with the ancient Greek character, he 
was warm and loyal in his friendships, but cold and severe to every shape of 
wrong. His wild frontier experiences had given him something of the impertur- 
bability of an Indian warrior. It has been said that he was insensible to peril. 
He was more than that. No eye was quicker than his to detect danger, but he 
had that lofty moral courage which taught him to scorn it judiciously. His men 
revered and loved him. The coi'ps which was enlisted in his native city formed 
his body-guard, and foUowtd him to "Western Virginia under a pledge to Mrs. 
Lander that they would never leave him upon the field of battle. In case of 
defeat, this devoted band had sworn to die with him. Some four years since. 
General Lander was married to Miss J. M. Davenport, the distinguished tragedi- 
enne, and a most accomplished lady. 

Before General Lander had fairly recovered from the effects of his wound, he 
again took the field. He assumed the command of the national forces at Eomney, 
Virginia. A movement on the part of the rebel General Jackson, threatening to 
outflank his troops, rendered it expedient for him to evacuate the position. It 
was his fate to give us but one more instance of his indomitable energy and 
valor. Having discovered that there was a rebel camp at Blooming Gap, he 
marched his four thousand men a distance of thirty-two miles, and completely 
surprised the enemy, capturing no less than seventeen commissioned ofiicers and 
fifty privates. The general, with one of his aides-de-camp. Lieutenant Fitz-James 
O'Brien, dashed in among them, and demanded their surrender, some two min- 
utes before the Union lines reached the sp«t. The secretary of war complimented 
General Lander in the following letter : 

"War Department, Washington, February Vlth, 18G2. 

" The President directs me to say that he has observed with pleasure the 
activity and enterprise manifested by yourself and the ofiicers and the soldiers 
of your command. You have shown how much may be done in the worst 
weather and worst roads, by a spirited officer at the head of a small force of 
brave men unwilling to waste life in camp when the enemies of their country 
are within reach. 

"Your brilliant success is a happy presage of what may be expected when 

the army of the Potomac shall be led to the field by their gallant general. 

" Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. 
" To Brigadier-General F. W. Lander." 



68 FBEDERICK W. LANDER, 

The kniglitly exploit, however, was not without its price. The terrible 
march irritated the wound, which had never ceased to be painful, and brought 
on a complication of diseases. At Camp Chase, on the 2d of March, 1862, this 
gallant spirit passed 

" To where beyond these voices there is peace." 

He was buried with all the honors that a sorrowful and grateful nation could 
bestow. His name will be woven forever with the annals of the land he loved. 
" History will preserve the record of his life and character, and romance will 
delight in portraying a figure so striking, a nature so noble, and a career so 
gallant."* 

Such is the brief story of a man whose love of country was so pure and 
beautiful, whose heart was so full of all kindly and chivalric qualities, that, at 
firesides where he had never been, women wept for him as if he were their 
brother; and old men said of him, as though he were their son, "Lander is 
DKAD !" 

* General McClellan, in Order No. 86, announcing Lander's death to the army of the Potomac. 

30 





^.-7-:"'*=^ 



Enfi'^-iy Geo ■£ Serine- 



///. 



/ «^ 2>/^ A ,??'— ^ 



^ 



JOHIT ELLIS WOOL. 

JOHN ELLIS WOOL was born at Newburgh, in the State of New-York, in 
the year 1789. He received, in early life, only a rudimentary education, and 
for the greater part of his youth was employed as clerk in a store in the city of 
Troy. Dissatisfied with this condition in life, he began the study of law, con- 
tinued it for one year, and then gave it up. This relinquishment of his first am- 
bition fell just in that period when the country began to prepare for the war that 
soon ensued with Great Britain, and when Congi-ess stormily debated the increase 
of the military force. Fired with a patriotic spirit, and an earnest desire to serve 
his country, Wool's ambition at once sought a more extensive sphere, and, upon 
the enlargement of the army, he obtained, April fourteenth, 1812, a captain's com- 
mission in the Thirteenth regiment of infantry. He soon after joined the army 
under General Van Kensselaer, on the Niagara fi-ontier, and there passed the sum- 
mer of 1812 in the drill and discipline of his men, and other technical duties of 
his rank. 

Captain Wool's command was part of the force in the expedition against 
Queenstown, and in the brilliant struggle at Queenstown Heights, the young offi- 
cer won his first distinction. After Colonel Van Eensselaer was can-ied from the 
field, and previous to the arrival of General Van Eensselaer, the command, for a 
time, rested with and was held conjointly by Captains Wool and Ogilvie. Wool 
received a severe wound in this fight, and, by the eventual surrender, became a 
prisoner of war ; but his gallantry was recognized, and he was promoted to be a 
Major, and upon his exchange assigned to the Twenty-ninth regiment of infantry, 
April thirteenth, 1813. Stationed at Plattsburgh, he participated in the success- 
ful resistance oftered at that point to the British army under Prevost, and again 
became conspicuous for his gallantry. He was especially eflicient in harassing the 
march of the British army, and in the various minor struggles that for five days 
preceded the principal battle on the Saranac. For his gallant conduct in the 
battle of the eleventh September he was breveted Lieutenant-Colonel. 

In September, 1816, he was appointed Inspector-General of the army, with 
the rank of Colonel ; in February, 1818, Lieutenant-Colonel of infantry ; and for 
" ten years of faithful service " he was breveted Brigadier-General, April twenty- 
ninth, 1826. 



70 JOHNELLISWOOL. 

In 1882 General "Wool was sent to Europe, in Government commission, to 
obtain information on military matters, and, in tlie discharge of that duty, tra- 
velled through- all of France and Belgium, and was present at the siege and bom- 
bardment of Antwerp by the French. In 1836 he assisted in the removal of the 
Indians from the Cherokee country to Arkansas, and in two years after was placed 
in command of the troops posted on the Maine frontier. He was appointed a Bri- 
gadier-General June twenty-fifth, 1841. 

Brigadier-General Wool, in Jhe war with Mexico, commanded the " centre 
division " of the United States army, organized to act against Chihuahua, in pur- 
suance of the primary plan of the United States Government to cut off from 
Mexico its more northerly provinces. Though thus in command of a separate 
divisioQ, General Wool was subject to the orders of General Taylor. Taylor, 
however, only named the point of destination, and left all beside to the discretion 
of Wool. His command assembled at San Antonio de Bexar, in Texas, and com- 
prised three thousand men. Washington's battery of light artillery formed part 
of it. General Wool began his march September twenty-sixth, 1846, and in 
eleven days reached the Eio Grande, near to San Juan Bautista, better known as 
Presidio. At that point the river is two hundred and seventy yards wide, and has 
an exceedingly rapid current ; but a ilj^ng bridge, brought with the army, was 
thrown across, and the whole command, and an immense train of stores, were 
safely landed on the opposite shore by the night of October eleventh. Thus 
within the Mexican territory. General Wool published an order, in which he stated 
that the army of the United States would act only against the Mexican govern- 
ment ; that all who did not take up arms, but remained peaceably in their homes, 
would not be molested either in their persons or property ; and that all who fur- 
nished supplies would be treated kindly, and paid for whatever was taken. From 
Presidio the division marched by San Juan de Nava, San Fernando de Eosas, and 
Santa Rosa to Monclova. The authorities of the latter place protested against Gen- 
eral Wool's advance upon it, and on November third he entered with the amiy, 
and took formal possession of the town. Orders were here received from General 
Taylor for the " centre division " to remain at Monclova until the end of the 
armistice, and it consequently rested twenty-seven days. Meantime the troops 
were incessantly drilled, and stores were collected for the establishment of a d^pot. 
Two hundred and fifty men were detached to guard the depot, and on the twenty- 
fourth November the division took up the line of march for Parras, one hundred 
and eighty miles distant. At Parras it was intended to take the great road from 
Saltillo to Chihuahua, but, upon its arrival there, the division was held to coope- 
rate, if necessary, with General Taylor, then threatened by Santa Anna, and 
weakened by the withdrawal of troops for Scott's line of operations. While the 
" centre division " still remained at Parras, General Taylor learned of an intention 



JOHN ELLIS WOOL. 71 

. upon the part of the Mexicans to surprise Saltillo, and massacre the small body 
of American troops stationed there, and immediately sent word with marching 
orders to General Wool, and also to General Butler at Monterey. " Wool, who 
had been marching from Port Lavoca to Parras in search of a battle," says Ripley, 
in his History of the War, " and who, in his desire of adventure and fame, had 
only wished to abandon the Chihuahua expedition in order to penetrate, with his 
single corps, still further south in the direction of Durango and Zacatecas, hailed 
the news as the harbinger of glory to be acquired. He at once broke up his camp 
at PaiTas, and marched with the gi-eatest celerity toward Saltillo, pushing his 
artillery and cavalry at the rate of forty miles a day." General Butler also hur- 
ried forward ; and General Taylor marched upon Saltillo with Twiggs's division ; 
and the Mexicans consequently made no attack. From this time, however, the 
"centre division" was merged into the "army of occupation," and joined General 
Taylor's command at Agua Nueva, December twenty-first ; and from that time 
until the battle of Buena Vista was fought, the whole American camp, and the 
instruction and discipline of the soldiers, were placed under General Wool's com- 
mand and direction. 

Upon the second day after Wool's an-ival at Agua Nueva, an incident oc- 
cuiTed to which the subsequent battle gave importance. Accompanied by seve- 
ral gentlemen of his command, and his Aid-de-Camp, Lieutenant Irwin McDowell, 
he rode from his camp at Agua Nueva, December twenty-second, to visit Generals 
Butler and Worth at Saltillo, and upon his return next day, and while in the pass 
or narrows near the Hacienda of Buena Vista, he said : " This is the very spot of 
all others I have yet seen in Mexico which I should select for battle, were I ob- 
liged with a small army to fight a large one." He then described the various ad- 
vantages of the position, and rode on. General Taylor at this time intended, if 
attacked, to fight at Agua Nueva, and General Butler opposed the wish of Gene- 
ral Wool to form his encampment near to Buena Vista, and even compelled the 
removal of the camp after it was formed there. General Taylor, however, upon 
examination, agreed with General Wool as to the advantages of the position at 
Buena Vista, and when it became certain that Santa Anna would attack with a 
large army, determined to meet him thei'e. General Wool has thus the honor to 
have chosen the field upon which the American army was enabled to struggle so 
gloriously and victoriously. 

General Taylor was at Saltillo on the morning of the twenty-second, and 
the command of the army fell upon General Wool, as next in rank. He 
accordingly ordered the advance from camp to the field, and disposed the army 
in its first order of battle. Previous to the commencement of the fight, how- 
ever. General Taylor an-ived, and General Wool again took the command of 
his own division. But on the night of the twenty- second, by Taylor's return 



72 JOHN ELLIS WOOL. 

to Saltillo, General "Wool was again left in command of the army, and retained 
the command for a part of the next day, when the battle was fought. Of 
the small army in the field on the twenty-second, General Taylor took with 
him to Saltillo a squadron of dragoons and Colonel Davis's regiment of Mis- 
sissippi riflemen. General Wool was thus left with four thousand two hundred 
men ; and with this small force he held Santa Anna's army of twenty thou- 
sand in check until General Taylor came up and assumed the command. For 
" gallant and meritorious conduct " in this battle, General Wool received the 
brevet of major-general in May, 1848. 

Upon the close of the Mexican war. General Wool was assigned to the 
command in the Eastern Military Department of the United States, and this 
position he held until some time after the present war broke out. Previous 
to the recent creation of several new departments, his command embraced the 
States of South-Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. 

When the treasonable agitation began in South-Carolina, General Wool 
urged strongly the support of Major Anderson, in Fort Sumter, and as early 
as December, 1860, declared that the surrender of that post would put two 
hundred thousand men in arms in defence of the Union. During the same 
month he wrote : " Before South-Carolina can get out of the jurisdiction or 
control of the United States, a reconstruction of the Constitution must be had, 
or civil war ensue." . . . He also declared himself as " now and forever 
in favor of the Union, its preservation, and the rigid maintenance of the rights 
and interests of the States, individually as well as collectively," and in a letter 
to General Cass he expressed the desire that "the President would command 
his services" if he could be of any aid. 

Immediately after the surrender of Fort Sumter, one of those gi-eat Union 
demonstrations that were made all over the country was made at Troy, N. Y., 
and a gi-eat concourse of citizens adjourned from then- place of meeting to the 
house of General Wool, who there addressed them, and in the course of his 
remarks used these words : "I have fought under the Stars and Stripes that 
were carried in tritimph by Washington, and under which Jackson closed the 
second war for independence at New-Orleans in a halo of glory. Will you 
permit that flag to be desecrated and trampled in the dust by traitors now? 
Wdl you permit our noble Government to be destroyed by rebels, in order 
that they may advance their schemes of political ambition, and extend the 
area of slavery? No, indeed, it cannpt be done. The spirit of the age for- 
bids it. Humanity and manhood, and the sentiments of the civilized world 
forbid it. My friends, that flag must be lifted up fi-om the dust into which 
it has been trampled, placed in its proper position, and again set floating in 



JOHN ELLIS WOOL. ^3 

triumph to tlie breeze. I jDledge you my heart, my hand, all my energies, to 
the cause." 

Yet desjiite this known devotion to the cause, and the Greneral's great expe- 
rience and capacity as an officer, he was, at a time when the country's gi-eat- 
est need was experienced and able officers, kept for several months, through 
some unaccountable cause at the War Department, in virtual retirement at 
Troy, and assured that it was done " for the benefit of his health," though 
he publicly declared that his health had never been better. 

Great dissatisfaction with the course of the Government in this matter 
was publicly expressed through the newspapers and otherwise, and at length, 
August twelfth, 1861, the veteran received from the War Department the 
order to proceed to Fortress Monroe and take command of the forces there. 
On his way thither he arrived in New- York, August fifteenth, and that night 
was serenaded at his hotel. In response to the calls of the assembled multi- 
tude, he appeared upon the balcony and spoke as follows : 

" Fellow-Citizens : I thank you for this unexpected honor. Nothing 
is more gratifying to a soldier's feelings than the good opinion of his fellow- 
citizens. I do not, however, regard it merely, as a compliment personal to 
myself, but on behalf of my country, my bleeding country, which is now con- 
tending for the most precious of rights. But yesterday we were a gi-eat peo- 
ple, commanding the admiration of the world, with an empire extending firom 
the frozen regions of the north to the tropical regions of the south, and with 
a population of more than thirty-one millions, enjoying a prosperity unparalleled 
in the history of nations. Every city and hamlet was growing rich, and none 
so much so as those at the Sovith. But this is not so to-day. And for what 
reason? For nothing under God's heavens but because the South wants to 
extend the area of slavery. Nothing else but that. The only question with 
you is, whether you will support free speech, fi-ee government, free sufirage, 
or extend the area of slavery. This was the happiest country on tiie face of 
the globe a few months since, with a Government more kind than any other 
in existence, where man could walk abroad in his own majesty, and none to 
make him afraid. Never sacrifice that Government, but maintain it to the 
last. I thank you, gentlemen, for the honor you have done me." 

After several patriotic airs were given, another pause was made in the 
music, cries were renewed for the appearance of General Wool, and he came 
forward and said : 

" Gentlemen, a few words more ; though I am too hoarse to speak, I have 
only to say to you, let us have liberty and union, the whole Union, and 
nothing but the Union now and forever. Good night." 



74 JOHN ELLIS WOOL. 

General Wool reached Fortress Monroe two days later, and assumed com- 
mand of the army assembled there. The force was mostly made up of volun- 
teers, and had- since the war began been under the command of Major-General 
Butler. General- Wool immediately began the institution of a more perfect 
and thorough discipline, and by holding every colonel and line ofiicer respon- 
sible not only for the good conduct but for the efficiency of their respective 
commands ; by exacting specific reports fi-om them' of every thing ; by insist- 
ing upon their being personally acquainted with the facts they state ; and by 
the infusion of good activity into every branch of the service, he is rapidly 
fitting the men of his command for any emergency. 




•-n8%A.H BittVne 



Brig. Gen^ J. W. SILL,. 



JOSHUA WOODEOW SILL. 

IN 1637, there came from Newcastle-upon-Tjne John Sill and his wife Jo- 
anna. They settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Their children, Joseph 
and Elizabeth, born in England, married and died in this country, leaving to their 
posterity honored and well-loved names. Joseph, the eldest son, distinguished 
himself in the Indian war of 1676. History tells us he was feared by King Philip 
and his Wampanoags ; his musket rarely missed its aim, while his daring and 
courage won for him the confidence of his superior ofiBcers. At the close of the 
war, Captain Sill removed from Cambridge to Lyme, Connecticut. In 1677 he 
married his second wife, Mrs. Sarah Marvin, of Lyme. From their youngest son, 
Zechariah, bom in 1682, Joshua Woodrow Sill was a direct descendant. 

" Captain Joseph," of Indian warfare renown, was not the only member of 
the Sill family who distinguished himself as a soldier. His grandson, Zechariah 
Sill, was with the American army in the vicinity of Boston, and assisted in erect- 
ing the fortifications on Dorchester Heights during the memorable night of the 
fourth of March, 1776. Zechariah Sill's nephew, Joseph, son of the Eev. Eichard 
Sill, of West-Granville, New- York, was the father of the subject of this sketch. 
He was born in "West-Granville, and there prepared for college. He graduated at 
Middlebury, Vermont, in 1809, and commenced the study of law, but afterward 
removed to Philadelphia, entered the law-oflice of Spencer and John Sargeant, and 
was there admitted to the bar in 1814. This same year he removed to Chilli- 
cothe, Ohio, where he settled in the practice of his profession, and has since re- 
sided. He has represented his district in the State Legislature, and held, for seve- 
ral years, the office of District Attorney for the counties of Eoss, Jackson, and 
Pike. Although fast verging on the limits of fourscore, he still possessed a strong 
mind, and an earnest, invincible determination never to sacrifice those principles 
of our Government which were connate with his New-England descent. In 1824 
he married his first wife, Elizabeth Woodrow, daughter of Joshua "Woodrow, a 
Quaker, of Hillsboro, Highland County, Ohio. 

Mrs. Sill was an uncommon woman. Child of the first generation of the pio- 
neer's descendants, she had what was in those days a remarkable love for, and ac- 
quaintance with the English literature of the past century. The graces of her life 
were not the mere external accomplishments which pass for so much in our time, 



^6 JOSHUA WOODROW SILL. 

but the more real and substantial elements of a Christian cbaracter, wbicli sought 
and loved what was good, true, and beautiful. She possessed great personal 
beauty. Her eyes were of that lustrous brown which gaze forth fi-om those em- 
bodiments of purity and meekness, the Madonnas of Eaphael. She was indeed 

" No angel, but a dearer being, all dipped 
In angel-instincts, breathing Paradise, 
Interpreter between gods and men, 
Who looked all native to her place, and yet, 
On tiptoe, seemed to touch upon a sphere 

Too gross to tread 

Happy he 

With such a mother ! faith in womankind 
Beats with his blood, and trust in all things high 
Comes easy to him ; and though he trip and fall, 
He shall not blind his soul with clay." 

Her fourth child, and second son, Joshua Woodrow, was bom December sixth, 
1831. As a boy he was remarkable for his dutiful, filial deportment, and this, 
united with his childlike love for those at home, fonned one of the chief attractions 
of his mature years. Serious, thoughtful, and retiring, he passed his boyhood in 
devotion to study under the guidance of his father and other competent teachers, 
and long before the years of manhood, had mastered many of the more abstruse 
branches of science, and gained an unusual knowledge of the classics and English 
literature. The purity and elevation of his tastes, his innate refinement and deli- 
cacy of character, protected him from ill associations. 

In 1819 he was appointed a United States cadet from the Chillicothe Con- 
gressional District. A letter from an army officer in 1850, to the representative 
from Ross County, contains the following : "I have called upon Cadet Sill. I 
find him a very promising young man-. He has just passed a very fine examina- 
tion, and I have no doubt will be head of his class in French and English studies, 
and very near head in mathematics, near enough to make him head in general 
merit. You may well be proud of having such a good representative fi-om your 
district." 

From his entrance at the Military Academy to his graduation Sill ranked 
among the first scholars of his class. Rigid obsei-vance of the requirements of his 
studies, and natural reserve of disposition, while it protected him fi-om the vices, 
deprived him of the advantages of general association with other cadets. But the 
friends he had " he grappled to his soul with hooks of steel." There was nothing 
of adventure in his cadetship. Some little difficulty threatened him at one time, 
(about his third year,) by reason of his refusal to testify against a room-mate, but 
it soon passed over, as such collegiate freaks of honor should. All of his associ- 



JOSHUA WOODROW SILL. 77 

ates and classmates, among them Generals McPherson, Scliofield, Eobinson, Sheri- 
dan, Tyler, Terrill, and Plummer, affectionately and proudly allude to his studious 
and successful devotion to every duty. 

In the summer of 1853 he graduated. Chosen for an ordnance appointment, 
he was stationed at Watervliet Arsenal, "West-Troy. Here he passed a quiet, 
studious life. His unobtrasive modesty, his strict obeyance of orders, his digni- 
fied gentleness to those beneath him, his cordiality and refined courtesy to those 
friends who were permitted to mess with the ofii(;ers, won for him the lasting af- 
fection of all. 

In July, 1855, he was ordered to West- Point as one of the instructors. Two 
years, not pleasant ones, passed. The department intrusted to him exacted all 
his time, but did not sufficiently interest him or satisfy his desire for progress in 
scientific attainment. He was thence ordered to Pittsburgh Arsenal, where, for a 
short time, awaiting orders, he occupied himself with testing and drafting for 
ordnance. 

May fifth, 1858, he sailed for Washington TeiTitory, to superintend the es- 
tablishment of an arsenal there. His letters during the joui-ney contain much 
penetrating observation, accurate yet comprehensive, betraying itself in slight de- 
scriptions of the voyage, the cities, harbors, people, products, and, indeed, what- 
ever came within range of his passing glance. At San Francisco he examined 
and reported upon the public works. 

In June, 1858, he amved at Vancouver, Washington Temtory, and began 
careful and laborious investigations, jareliminary to the establishment of the arse- 
nal, but the Vancouver Island imbroglio with the British authorities suspended 
and finally prevented its construction. Sill, however, at General Harney's request, 
served upon his staff. Before leaving Vancouver, some difficulty occurred be- 
tween the General and Lieutenant Sill. It was purely one of etiquette, and in no 
wise involved the public interest or Sill's good name. He was court-martialed 
for writing a letter to Harney's Adjutant, but honorably acquitted. The verdict 
contained a few words apparently to excuse the preferment of the charge, and 
upon this pretext the Secretary of War, Ployd, in his order confirming the ac- 
quittal, read Sill a lecture which surprised no one more than the officers who had 
unconsciously given him the text for it. 

Sill always treated his trial with the utmost reticence and indifference. He 
never spoke or seemed to think unpleasantly of General Harney, whose treatment 
to him after the affair continued to be kindly and courteous. The publicity given 
to the matter by Floyd, and the unjust constructions proclaimed by him, gave 
some annoyance, but the noble heart of Sill cherished no feeling of animosity 
even toward Floyd, who thus shabbily wielded his great office to wound the repu- 
tation of a young lieutenant. As to Floyd — God has proven Sill and him by 



70 JOSHUA WOODROW SILL. 

unerring tests. The eternal record of the one is — hero and true man : of the 
other • — false ti'aitor. 

In September, 1859, Sill returned East, and was again stationed at Water- 
vliet, but in the following June he was ordered to Fort Leavenworth. It was 
here that his long-cherished purpose of leaving the army for a freer and more 
active career took effect. His discontent with army life arose chiefly from repug- 
nance to the selfish crowding for promotion, and unnecessary self-reproach that he 
was a comparatively idle incumbent upon the National Treasury. Early in 1860 
■he gave notice of resignation, and received the usual six months' furlough. A 
letter to a friend at the time shows how distasteful military life had become, and 
yet how conscientious he was in his desire to enter upon more congenial duties. 
" My dissatisfaction with army life has been' growing so rapidly, that after waiting 
in vain to secure a more congenial situation, I have at last determined to resign, 
regardless of consequences. Accordingly, I applied some time since for a six 
months' leave of absence, which has been granted. . . . Your kind offer at 
this conjuncture has given me more anxious thought than any previous election 
of a locality and a vocation. The truth is, I hardly dare regard myself as adapted 
by force of talent, or by long-cherished tastes for other pursuits,* to fill the Pro- 
fessorship of Mathematics. I do not say this from any impulse of false modesty, 
or that other subtle species of vanity which consists in self-depreciation — I speak 
candidly, having in view the innumerable trials and mortifications of a man who 
should recklessly stick himself in the wrong place." 

This Professorship he finally accepted, and in September, 1860, went to 
Brooklyn as Professor of Mathematics and Civil Engineering in the Brooklyn 
Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute. "With how much ability and skill he filled 
that chair let the " resolutions " of the faculty, instructors, and students of that 
Institute, adopted by them, testify.f Up to December, 1860, he seems to have 

* He probably referred to Astronomy, Chemistry, or Geology. In all three of these he was 
more than proficient. 

t " Whtreas, The mournful intelligence has reached us of the death of Brigadier-General Joshua 
W. Sill, Professor of Mathematics and Civil Engineering in this Institute, who, on the breaking 
out of the Southern rebellion, relinquished his chair (temporarily, as we trusted) to enter the 
military service of his country, and fell at the head of his division while gallantly leading it into 
battle at Stone River, Tennessee, on Wednesday, December thirty-first, 1862 ; therefore, 

"Sesoleed, That Professor Sill was one whose conspicuous virtues and refined manners, com- 
bined with ripe erudition and quiet energy, fitted him equally to adorn the walks of civil and 
military life ; that our association with him has given him a large and lasting place in our esteem, 
and that we mourn his loss, not merely as an efficient co-laborer and an accomplished instructor, 
but as a brother and a friend. 

"Hesohed, That as we review the record of his brief military life, a life of unremitting toil, 
welcome hardships, unwavering devotion to duty, wounded at last by the eager immolation of self 



JOSHUA WOODROW SILL. 79 

thoroughly enjoyed his new life, but the threatening aspect of affairs now gi'eatly 
disturbed and engrossed him. As the time for his resignation to take effect ap- 
proached, the grave question, whether or not to retract it, was to be decided. Upon 
the one hand, it seemed quite possible that the country would require the services 
of all her educated soldiers. On the other, this necessity was but a contingent and 
doubtful one. Many of the shrewdest statesmen believed that the storm would 
pass — the peril be averted. Sill's apprehensions were alive and awake. But if 
he withdrew his resignation and the cause of the withdrawal disapijcared, he broke 
up his new plans needlessly and unfortunately. His anxious consideration of the 
dilemma was at last ended by the advice of reliable, and experienced military 
friends. He perfected the resignation, and wrote to the Chief of the Department, 
pledging his services whensoever and howsoever they might be useful. That this 
was no idle pledge, no hollow parade of patriotic intents, was testified by the sub- 
sequent fulfilment. 

It is a somewhat singular commentary upon the confusion and wild suspicion 
which ruled the hour, that in the newspaper announcement of his resignation. 
Sill, every fibre of whose heart was devotedly loyal, was confounded with the 
secessionists. One nwDrning, in the New-York Times, his name ajipeared at the 
head of a column of disloyal resignations. The mistake was at once corrected by 
friends, but Sill's dislike of publicity was so intense, that while thanking them for 
the kindness, he regretted the publication. 

He remained at the Polytechnic until May, 1861. The condition of the 
country and his relations and duties to it were the subject of frequent considera- 
tion, yet never from him was heard one word of personal ambition, but on the 
contrary an extreme repugnance, so far as he was personally concerned, to enter 
upon the race for distinction and power which the tumult of the times inaugurated. 
From the beginning, he never wavered in his resolution to devote himself to the 
cause ; the only question was " when ?" and " how ?" 

The day the Seventh regiment left New- York for Washington Professor Sill 
dined with a few fi-iends. He was rather silent but pale with suppressed excite- 
ment, his eye lit with a fire never seen there before. The little he said was char- 
acterized by an excessive degree of moderation. He was so possessed by an over- 
mastering but just anger that he scarcely trusted himself to speak. It needed no 

on the altar of country, we find but a firmer ground for faith in the ultimate triumph of the sacred 
cause of the Union, and a fresh stimulus to zeal in serving those ends at which our beloved asso- 
ciate never ceased to aim, 'our Country's, God's, and Truth's.' 

^^ScsolvecJ, That we wear in his honor the usual badge — a crape upon the left arm — for thirty 
days, and that we will inscribe upon the walls of this Institute some more enduring memorial of 
his virtues, which may inspire with grateful regard, and incite to noble emulation, the youth of 
future generations." 



80 JOSHUA WOODROW SILL. 

spirit of proptecy to foretell that his sword -would not long lie idle. His friends 
expended their power of persuasion to induce him to seek high command, and to 
volunteer from the great and liberal State of New- York ; but he regarded the ties 
of nativity more than the hopes of personal aggrandizement and shrank from un- 
dertaking the responsibilities of more than a subordinate position. He resigned 
his Professorship, and wrote to Ohio, asking for a place in her organization. Un- 
til the reply came, he occupied himself with the discipline of the " Phalanx," a 
regiment organized under the auspices of the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. 

Before leaving Brooklyn an unexpected pleasure awaited him. His students 
presented to him a sword„sash, and belt. His reply to Doctor Eaymond was a 
most striking contrast to the noisy satisfaction, or extravagant humility, which 
too often characterize such receptions. Its tone is that of unalloyed patriotism, 
the utterance of a calm, steadfast, unselfish soul xmchangeably committed to the 
cause of God and the Right. He reentered the service purely as a matter of 
duty, upon no mere impulse, with no merely personal ambition — after long and 
deliberate consideration of his power to serve the country, and not for a moment 
of the opportunity to serve himself. This pui-pose, conscientiously, unselfishly 
formed, was thenceforward his sole guide — even unto death. 

On arriving at Columbus he was made Assistant Adjutant-General, with the 
rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, under the State Act. In his interview with the Gov- 
ernor he objected, that this position might keep him from the field, but being 
assured that he would be assigned to duty on McClellan's stafl', he consented to 
accept the temporary appointment. He was therefore introduced to the Senate, 
and installed in his new office with honor. But tape and stationery was not the 
battle-field, for which he felt he had offered his life. Writing to a friend at this 
time, he says : " If I was somewhat younger I should murmur ' loud and deep,' 
but how soon does it not become apparent to us that the great labyrinthian web 
of circumstance has suiTOunded us -^yith its intricate convolutions, and that the 
true philosophy is to be meek and confiding. . . . How often do I feel 
grieved and pained by rude contacts and uncongenial associations, the fruits of 
our disorder and confusion of this time ! What this friction means, what it is to 
make me, or how to touch others, who can say or guess ? Come fame or dis- 
grace, come humiliation and the loss of the aff'ections which the heart lives upon, 
it is all beyond our ken or control, though there is a magnificent Beneficence to 
reveal itself hereafter." 

While at Camp Denison, issuing arms to the Ohio forces, he had many offers 
of promotion. One from General Cox, giving him the first place on his stafE 
This he desired to accept, and telegraphed McClellan to this effect, but McClellan 
answered at once, desiring him not to make the arrangement, saying also : "I 
need you myseE" McClellan's almost immediate promotion to the regular service 



JOSHUA WOODROW SILL. gl 

disarranged this plan, as none but United States commissioned oi!icers could serve 
on his staff. By special order, however, Sill accompanied McClellan into Western 
Virginia as Chief of Ordnance. The following extract from a letter, written after 
the battle near Cheat Mountain, will show how the first encounter with the enemy 
affected him : " I joined McClellan at Buckhannon, and proceeded with him on 
his march to Beverly. It was on this march, as you have doubtless read in the 
papers, that we first encountered the enemy. . . . You know the result — 
how signally the rebels were discomfited, and with so little loss to ourselves. 
Their commander, Colonel Pegram, was an old army accpiaintance of mine, we 
having been cadets together at "West-Point. I felt more compassion for the fallen 
foe than I thought it was possible to admit into my composition. But the sight 
of the bloody field, and the dismal trench where lay piled the forms of so manv 
of God's creatures torn, and mangled, and slaughtered in amis against their coun- 
try, filled me with unspeakable sadness. I observed, too, that their motives 
seemed to be, in many cases, as truly conscientious as those which righthj animat- 
ed the Northern soldier in this contest for law and order." 

After a glowing description of the glorious scenery around the valley of 
Beverly, he continues : " How depressing the thought, that this country, which 
one might have in fancy populated with the hardy, simple, liberty-loving moun- 
taineer, had by its own faithlessness, and in utter despite of loyalty, in complete 
oblivion of ancestral deeds of merited renown, thrown itself away into the hands 
of the reckless, privateering traitors of the Gulf States. How inexpressibly sad 
the decay and evanescence of that glorious attribute of human nature, loyalty to 
the Eight and Just in civil affairs. . . . You have not seen the Ohio, and can- 
not realize the Spirit of Beauty that seems to plead for respite. . . . Surelv 
the impressions of such scenery cannot be communicated, they must be seen and 
felt with gratitude and reverence. Tliey belong to us then, and we are richer for 
evermore. Could but these fierce combatants drink in this sweet intoxication and 
forget the dreadful mission with which they are charged ! The lovely vale of the 
Ohio and the secluded dells of the Kanawha must soon witness the never-ending 
destructiveness of the human race. We too are of the earth earthy, and must be 
burned out with the implacable passions. It is only our better angels within who 
love the woodland stream, the perfume of the walnut-tree, the smooth trunk and 
glossy leaf of the beech, the drooping elm, the fragrance of clover-field and the 
long billows of the waving grain. . . . It is heaven in us that recognizes Na- 
ture, but we, alas ! poor clay, are quite demoniac — given over for a season. God 
grant this carnival of the ' Prince of the Air ' may soon terminate, or we pass 
away to scenes where we may not be vexed." 

When McClellan was called to the army of the Potomac, Sill organized a re- 
giment, the Thirty-third Ohio, and was commissioned its Colonel July, 1861. Iq 



82 JOSHUA WOODROW SILL. 

a letter he thus refers to his appointment : "After a dreary interval of ' ledgers,' 
' stationery,' and ' steel pens,' I am once more aroused to activity by the unex- 
IDected summons of Governor Denison to take command of a regiment. My sta- 
tion at present is the town of Portsmouth, on the Ohio, where my regiment is 
concentrating. We shall have work to do of the sternest hue. Our Southern 
brethren are in for a long resistance, so farewell all sweet sounds and invitations, 
and let us be made of adamant and steel. . . . Does your faith ever waver in 
the ultimate success of our arms ? Naturally desponding and skeptical, I have 
felt at times that the Eepublic was sick unto death. ... If slavery triumphs, 
and the prince of darkness be allowed to reign in hemp over our dear America, 
then indeed we had better pray for our dismissal and die the martyi-'s death. . . . 
How earnestly my heart echoes the pathetic appeal of Hungary, ' America, 
America ! how can I give thee up ! Oh ! bury me, American mother, in thy 
broad bosom or be to me a land of freedom.' " 

In August he writes : " My regiment is not yet full, and I am as occupied as 
I can afford to be in instilling military elementals into these strong-armed sons of 
toil. Day after day we go through marches and countermarched, and cheer the 
monotony by reflections on the progress made, and imagine at times that we may 
be the proud participants in some glorious victory for freedom and fatherland. 
. . . To-day we expected a summons to hurry over to Western Virginia, where 
last accounts are really disheartening. ... I have at times imagined I could 
leave a name in the historic annals. Bat if fame should become mine, it will be 
unexpected, certainly unsolicited. . . . The threads of my life I see weaving 
before me, the web is gliding swift from the hands of the hidden weaver, the 
colors are, to be sure, sober and neutral. The less we become •personal in our 
views and seek to appropriate, the more beautiful the provision. ... The 
pure stream of our being should not be discolored by our own personal and im- 
pure additions. We have nothing to do but expect and thank the present that its 
satisfactions have still left us the undimmed sight which God intended for us." 

In September other troops were added to his command, and he accompanied 
General Nelson in his Eastern Kentucky expedition. After Nelson's return, the 
Thirty-third Ohio was assigned to Mitchel's division, and Sill was placed in com- 
mand of a brigade. This he led in advance of our forces on Bowling Green and 
Nashville, and in the. subsequent operations of General Mitchel in Middle Tennes- 
see and North- Alabama. He displayed such talent and skill in the handling of 
this brigade that he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General. The nomi- 
nation, unsolicited by him, was made upon the reports and recommendations of 
his superior officers, and was confirmed by the Senate July twenty-ninth, 1862. 

He was at once assigned to the command of the forces stationed at Battle 
Creek, then threatened with an attack by the advance of the rebel General Bragg. 



JOSHUA WOODROW SILL. 83 

Writing to a friend at this time, lie says : " We are here, not so much for an act- 
ive campaign as to delude the enemy until our commander, General Buell, 
arrives with his gi-eat army from Corinth. We expect him daily. Meanwhile, 
our enemy is not disposed to brook our presence, and sends rifle-balls at us with 
uncomfortable precision and frequency. What bloody, unchristian work it is ! I 
am too womanly myself to become reconciled to it. This is a very fi-ank confes- 
sion, is it not ? But you will at least qualify all your criticisms of my defective 
nature with the admission that I have no concealments — no desire to be known 
as other than I am. You cannot think what a chord you struck in even casual 
allusions to my dearest likings, the fascinations of poetry and music, and all the 
attractions of literature. . . . With a farewell to my household gods, I am 
now adrift, . . . filled with the conTiction which so often oppresses me, the 
uselessness of essaying to thwart our fate. If the true nobility clad us all like a 
garment, we should not say oppressed — but the heroic virtues of self-abnegation 
and brotherly love do not grow in a day, still less do they thrive in a period of 
ease and luxury. This effeminates, and the reaction inevitably follows. As with 
the individual so with the nation. ' The rod that chastens,' ' the bitterness of ad- 
versity,' is the matrix of all that is noble or worth preserving in humanity. Such 
stufi'as martyrs are made of is as rare and precious now as in all primitive times. 
We need to see something of it and the rest will jDrofit." 

When General Alexander McD. McCook was promoted to the rank of Major- 
General and to the command of an army corps, General Sill was assigned by Buell 
to the command of the Second division. This he led with consummate skill fi-om 
Tennessee against the rebels in Kentucky. His division was on the extreme left, 
and it was due to his unceasing vigilance and unerring skill that, under the orders 
of the Major-General, he effected a junction with the remainder of our troops at 
Perryville, having by an adroit movement eluded Kirby Smith's forces sent to 
intercept him at Salvisa. During this march he was engaged in a constant run- 
ning fight with the enemy, but so handled his troops as to sustain but trifling 
losses. His division was then detached to the relief of Nashville. His march 
thither is one of the most remarkable movements of the war, in the way of suc- 
cessful forced marches for many consecutive days. Arrived at Nashville, he re- 
ceived a most joyful welcome. « 

His soldiers almost worshipped him. He treated them as men, as brothers. 
On the march he would visit the wagon-trains to see that every thing was right. 
In order to resume his place he was often comjDclled to pass the troops on a nar- 
row road. As he passed, he would be extremely careful not to hurry a soldier, 
but would ride very slowly until the way was clear. One of his staff, whose place 
was in the rear, often heard the soldiers say : " That's the right kind of a Gene- 



84 JOSHUA WOODROW SILL. 

ral ; lie acts very diiferently from most others, sci-eaming as tliey do, ' Get out of 
the way,' and then ride over us if we do not." 

Upon reorganization of the army of the Cumberland, under General Eose- 
crans, the comm,and of General Sill's division was given to General R. W. John- 
son.* "When Sill's staff murmured at this change, he said : " You must not com- 
plain, for it is right, he is the ranking officer, and the place is due him."f He 
offered to secure places for them on the staff of Johnson, but they refused and 
voluntarily remained with him. Sill himself accepted the change in his usual 
quiet, obedient feshion, grieving only that it parted him firom veterans whom he 
loved and who loved him. General Sheridan was his classmate and warm friend ; 
he therefore asked and obtained a brigade in his division. 

And now, before the army of the Cumberland moves forward to Murfrees- 
boro, we pause to note more closely the inner life of our young hero. Under his 
calm, quiet exterior was a hidden strength which verified the eulogy, that " when 
occasion required such qualities, he was gi-eat without effort and brave without 
bustle or tumult." Yet the irresistible attraction of his character was not so much 
his exalted talent, his unaffected reserve and modesty, as his firm Christian prin- 
ciples and high moral aim. His religion was not gloomy and austere, but the 
emanation of a cheerful trust in our Saviour's atonement. At the age of fifteen 
he became a member of the First Presbyterian church of Chillicothe. This he 
did from the impulses of his own heart, without consultation and without ex- 
citement. 

Writing to a friend the year before his death, in referring to the transcendent 
worth and superiority of Christianity, even if it were merely the guise of a philo- 
sophical theory and did not demand the higher acceptation of the only truth, he 
says : " It is only the Christian who can steer onward, not bating a tittle of hope, 
and hating nothing which God has given him for solace and enchantment, yet giv- 

* The Cincinnati Commercial said at the time : " The regret of the Second division at the 
loss of General Sill is intense and universal. Each man felt tliat in parting with him he had lost 
a personal friend. Indeed, there is no individual in the army who stands higher in the opinion 
of both oiBcers and men than General Sill. His military knowledge and skill, his prudential care 
and management of the resources placed at his command, his successful accomplishment of what- 
ever task has as yet been assigned him, hjp exemplary diligence in providing for the wants of his 
men, his quiet, unassuming, courteous demeanor toward all who approached him, and his deep 
devotion to the cause for which we fight, these things have won for him the esteem of every one 
who has made his acquaintance, and have secured for him an honorable reputation among thou- 
sands who have never seen him. Envy herself seems thus far to have spared him, and I have yet 
to hear a soldier speak disrespectfully of General Sill." 

t Sill's comment that Johnson outranked him is a good military reason for times of peace, 
when promotion is a kind of century-plant, but no such argument has had much force hitherto in 
this war. 



JOSHUA -WOODROW SILL. 85 

ing up all as mere circumstance, in prospect of tlie unfailing source of still greater 
wonders. Near to this is the idea, it strikes me, which the Saviour's crucifixion 
forever symbolizes. Who loves nature and its boundless imagery, who loves the 
heart-ties and clings to them, who loves art and the festival of the imagination, he 
indeed lives, and may be lives a refined and somewhat spiritual existence. But 
the culmination of all this we fail to reach. We are so frail as to lose our judg- 
ment before either one of these overpowering influences, and never pass on with 
white robes to the inner sanctuary where God dwelleth and storeth up experience 
and vision, beside which life's present blessings must appear ixnreal and phantasy." 

In writing to one whose trials seemed beyond human endurance, he says : 
" True, the world is wicked ; but what do we expect life to be, and how should 
we know the ineffable sweetness of the unspotted vesture of God's innocency were 
it not for this same dark background of woe and despair ? We can afford to gi-ant 
the theory of tlie Dualists, and none the less bravely fight the dread Ahriman 
because we love Omiuzd the Light Spirit. Do not accuse me of coldness in thus 
suggesting my mode of slipping along life's dubious ways. I think Emerson saith 
somewhere : ' The world is a surface, and we must learn to skate well on it.' Why 
should we allow circumstance to dominate us ? To-morrow's joys will come, and 
to-day's dangers and sorrows will as certainly fade away. . . . We are bom 
to be amiised, to sorrow, to desire, to hope, to mourn. . . . Happy he or she 
who can come forth fi'om all this pandemonium of the world of passion, of narrow 
views, and earthly aims into that clear air, where its good and evil are seen with 
discriminating eye, and evil's fearful pall can be raised and understood, and God's 
everlasting goodness not the less upheld." 

These letters were written during his camp-life, in frank intercourse with 
friends whose thoughts were in harmony with them. They occupied brief and 
rare intervals of leisure, and gave expression to the occasional reaction from heavy 
cares and overwork. Impatience, disappointment, and regret habitually thus 
found relief, and were never felt by his associates or command in the form of a 
variable temper, or an inconstant, unreliable administration of his office. In his 
daily life, only unvarying gentleness in manner and firmness in act were revealed. 
When at times the overtasked energies seemed about to reject their burdens, he 
would turn aside for brief communion with distant scenes, happy recollections, 
and blessed hopes, and then, with new vigor and reinspired devotion, again ad- 
dress himself to his labor in our country's cause. 

No wonder then that Eosecrans has styled him " the gentle and the true," 
that McCook, in his official report of the battle, asserts : " He was noble, conscien- 
tious in the discharge of every duty, brave to a fault. He had no ambition save 
to serve his country. He died a Christian soldier, in the act of repulsing the ene- 
my." And gallant Sheridan, the companion of his cadetship, the friend of his 



86 JOSHUA WOODROW SILL. 

riper years, exclaims : " Poor Sill ! poor Sill ! he was pure as a virgin, immaculate 
as the angels of heaven." And General W. S. Smith, a comrade in arms who knew 
him well, flings his whole heart into the tribute he offers to his memory, and closes 
with the words : "Admirable as an officer of the very finest talent, a soldier gifted 
with that rare intrepidity which springs from conscious rectitude, an elegant 
scholar, he was even more distinguished as a warm and devoted friend. His soul, 
free from earthly stains, has gone to God, and we can but weep who loved him so 
well." No less warmly speaks General Sheridan's aid : " His loss was deeply felt 
by the whole army. Never was man more beloved by his associates and troops. 
He was a good General, a brave soldier, a perfect gentleman, and a God-like 
Christian. Mild, quiet, pleasant, yet firm, energetic, and thorough, beloved by 
all, respected by all, mourned by all, not one voice raised to revile his name." 

But the order. Onward to Murfreesboro ! sounds throughout the camp, the 
army of the Cumberland must advance. 

The surfoce of the country between Nashville and Stone Eiver is undulating. 
The whole region rests on limestone, which freqiiently crops out, sometimes on 
the ridges, again in the lowest ground, and where the rock approaches the surface 
it is generally covered with a dense growth of cedars. The rest of the surface has 
been covered with luxuriant forests of deciduous ti'ees. 

On Friday, December twenty-sixth, the Fourteenth army corps, Major-Gene- 
ral Eosecrans commanding, commenced, in three columns, its march toward Mur- 
freesboro. The right wing, commanded by Major-General McCook, with the divi- 
sions of Davis, Johnson, and Sheridan, moved down the Nashville pike. Onward 
they marched. They knew that a battle-field was before them, but they knew 
not just where that battle-field would be. Onward, through the dark and stormy 
day — onward, through thick forests of cedars, where abrupt, rocky bluffs sur- 
rounded them on every side. McCook's advance, under Davis, was the first to 
encounter the enemy. Skirmishing lasted during the forenoon on Friday, fol- 
lowed by rapid artillery practice when the opposing numbers or nature of the 
ground made it practicable. At night General McCook bivouacked in a grove at 
Nolinsville. 

On Saturday, supposing they would have a heavy force to encounter, as they 
had received instructions from Eosecrans to press the force of the enemy at Tri- 
une, Sheridan's division deployed over hills and through farms, and formed into 
line of battle. Although having a superb position, the rebels retired, and at 
evening the Stars and Stripes waved over the ground the enemy had occupied but 
a few hours before. Sunday dawned a bright, sunny day. It was a blessed sea- 
son of rest to the wearied, watching soldiery. Watching — the battle-field was 
still before them — they knew not how near. And Monday came with sunshine and 
warmth, no appearance of winter, no freezing or even frosts at night. Onward 



JOSHUA WOODROW SILL. 87 

marched tlie -well-ordered right wing of that grand army, onward with occasional 
rests, till just at dark it struck the Wilkinson pike, a fine Macadamized road, 
seven or eight miles in length, leading into Murfreesboro. And here Sheridan's 
division, in which General Sill commanded a brigade, took the advance. As they 
passed on, most significant indications appeared. The rail-fences for miles on 
either side were carefully opened at about every third panel, so that cavalry or 
troops might readily pass. That night they bivouacked in the woods without 
tents, without fire, even the striking of matches to light pipes or cigars was care- 
fully guarded. "With lowering heavens above them, and the damp earth for their 
bed, the soldiers slept. 

Tuesday morning foretold a cool, cloudy day. At nine o'clock, McCook, 
with Sheridan still in the advance, moved on the Wilkinson pike. General Sill, 
to the right, with his brigade passed onward through dense cedar thickets, meet- 
ing with such formidable resistance that it was deemed prudent to move Davis to 
support his right. The enemy, posted in powerful natural positions, defended by 
rocks and almost impenetrable cedar forests, formed in line of battle just below a 
bend in Stone Eiver, on the Nashville side. Sill's approach to the rebel line lay 
through thickets and over pastures, known as Blanton's and Harding's farms, 
where woods on every side make an irregular, six-sided open space. Onward 
through the dense cedars, driving the enemy before them ; onward to the open 
field they went, and there deploying southwardly, crossed the farms, until at 
evening they had gained the crest of a wooded hill to the south. Thus the com- 
bat and roughness of the country had brought forward Sheridan's division so as 
to face south-east. The position was faulty ; instead of being parallel with the 
enemy, our division, on the extreme, right, approached them at an acute angle, 
which would probably have touched their centre, and when the terrific onset came 
early in the morning the enemy doubled around our line, crushing division after 
division. 

On the march from Nashville to Murfreesboro, the presentiment of early 
death, which for many months had clung to General Sill, seemed to him very near 
realization. Tuesday afternoon, riding in advance of his brigade, he turned to his 
friend and aid. Captain De Bruin, and said : " Mr. De Bruin, do you know we 
shall have a severe struggle to-morrow ? we are going to fight thirteen divisions 
with eight divisions." 

" Well, General," replied De Bruin, " what will be the result?" 

" I think we will whip them, but many a good oflicer and soldier of o\\r army 
will be left upon the battle-field. I do not expect to come out of that fight safe." 

From this time General Sill never relaxed attention to his brigade. Through 
the nio-ht he took no rest. At midnight he left his bed and called for his horse. 
Captain De Bruin did the same. The General said : " No, Mr. De Bruin, lie 



88 JOSHUA WOODEOW SILL. 

down and take your rest. You will jiroljably have plenty of work to do on tlie 
morrow." 

The night was dark and cloudy but not tempestuous. An unearthly stillness 
prevailed, and through the stillness and in the darkness Sill rode around his lines, 
listening to the movements of the enemy. He foresaw the events of the coming 
day, and therefore ordered the wounded removed to the rear before daylight. 

Cold and gray, through misty falling rain, came sunrise on the last day of the 
year 1862. Breakfast at dawn was scarcely begun, when through the forests on 
the right rolled the roar of cannon. Under cover of night, aided by dense fog, 
the enemy had massed the bulk of their force close to their pickets, and as the sun 
came up, down into the valley they swept and dashed into the whole line of our 
right wing. General Johnson's batteries, Goodspeed's and Edgarton's for the sup- 
port of Sill on the right, were utterly unprepared ; the division of Davis, over- 
powered by numbers, was thrown into confusion and obliged to give way. Gene- 
ral Sheridan's division held the left of this line, protecting the right of the centre 
under Negiey. Sill commanded the right brigade, Shaffer the centre, and Colonel 
Roberts the left. Thus, when Davis's staunch division retired. Sill received the 
enemy. He was thoroughly prepared. His gallant brigade met the shock daunt- 
lessly, and hurled back the enemy with a splendid charge. Shaffer and Roberts 
were also ready ; they, under steady Sheridan, drove back the foe. Shaffer's bri- 
gade now occupied a sharp angle formed by the opposing lines, and here for a mo- 
ment the conflict raged furiously, for this was the key to Negley's position. But 
compact ranks and well-served artillery so annoyed the enemy that they again 
riished upon Sill. Gallantly he met and repulsed them, gallantly his brigade 
charged, again the flashing banner of the stai's advanced, but Sill — in the forward 
line, encouraging his men and directing the movements of a battery — suddenly 
fell. A Minie-buUet had pierced his left eye and penetrated the brain ! The 
sun flashed out on a thousand bayonets of glittering steel as onward swept his 
brigade. His men knew they had heard their General's voice for the last time on 
earth, and in terrible energy of grief they rushed to avenge his death. In disor- 
der and dismay Withers's rebel division fled, and returned no more that day. The 
sun flashed out — fitting symbol of the glorious dawn into which "the brave, the 
gentle, and the true " had entered. 

As his body was borne to the rear. General Sheridan ordered De Bruin to go 
with the escort accompanying it. It was conveyed to a point near a hospital, 
where an attempt was made to secure an ambulance, but the rebel cavalry attack- 
ing the hospital compelled our men to retire, which they did, having first placed 
the name and rank of the General on his coat. And thus it was that the body fell 
into the hands of the rebels. The Murfreesboro Rebel Standard, in its last issue 
before the Federal army took possession, contains notice of an order that General 



JOSHUA WOODROW SILL. 89 

Sill should be interred with " military usages accorded a brave soldier, whether 
friend or foe," and closed with the words, " the ball passed through his head, his 
countenance, still handsome, bore the impress of a brave soul." 

But the rebels did not bury him. Let it be remembered in justification of 
their failure, that the battle was continued until Saturday. Had the victory they 
so confidently expected crowned their annies, they might have done more honor 
to themselves in the burial of General Sill. A surgeon of the Twenty-seventh 
Illinois, while attending the wounded on Wednesday afternoon, was taken prisoner 
and sent to Murfreesboro. The colonel of his regiment, also a prisoner, died of 
his wounds. Hearing that General Sill had been buried by the confederates, Sui-- 
geon Bowman procm-ed a coffin similar to General Sill's, the same hearse, and the 
same di-iver, who took him to the place where General Sill's body had been left. 
It was in a fence-corner, no grave dug, no detail for that purpose. Too late in the 
day to go back to town and procure a detail of men, the surgeon, with two faith- 
ful assistants, made a grave, and laid the young General and Colonel Harrington 
side by side — brothers in arms — brothers in death. 

This was a funeral of truest military honor ! The very earth vibrating with 
the tramp of soldiers and horsemen clashing in horrid conflict — the roar of a hun- 
dred cannon the requiem for the dead — weary captives bending over the grave 
performing the solemn rights of sepulture ! 

Days passed, and the body of General Sill, recovered by fi-iends, was borne in 
triumphant proces^on toward his native home. Every demonstration of respect 
that civic and military authority could give was accorded by the people of Cincin- 
nati as the funeral cortege passed through that city. And then — in solemn pomp, 
in bitter giief, " the brave, the pure, the true " young soldier was earned to the 
house of his aged father in Chillicothe. On Sunday, February third, a devoted, 
loving people attended him to his final resting-place, the peaceful cemetery of 
his home. Again, all that civic, military, and friendly interest could bring fol- 
lowed him to the grave. And with the calm burial-service of the Episcopal 
Church they laid him down to rest — his cross bravely borne — his crown nobly 
won. 



■ — ^=*'^?5^^>^'^:V^=^ — • 



EOBEET AI^DEESOI^r. 

IN the history of the Southern Conspiracy, General Egbert Andeeson must 
hold a distinguished place, being the first federal officer against whom the 
fatal thought of rebellion took voice in the throat of a cannon ; and though 
his shattered health has constrained him to play no further part in the tragedy 
which he opened with such brilliancy, his loj^alty to " old glory," his wise cour- 
age and Christian firmness, in that one hour of peril, will ever keep his name 
honored and revered among the American people. 

General Anderson came from a patriotic and military family. His father, 
Captain Eichard C. Anderson, was the man whose little band surprised an out- 
post of the Hessians at Trenton, on the night prior to the decisive battle of that 
place — an attack which the Hessian commander. Colonel Eahl, then on the look- 
out for Washington, construed to be the whole assault against which he had 
been warned. General Washington met Anderson retreating with his company, 
and was very indignant at what they had done, fearing it«vould prepare the 
enemy for their advance in force. The result, however, proved the contraiy, and 
Anderson was then complimented on the exploit. Captain Andei-son served 
with Washington throughout the New Jersey campaign. 

The subject of this sketch is a native of the state of Kentucky. The blood 
of a brave soldier ran in his veins, and displayed itself in his early desire to 
adopt the profession of arms. Passing over young Anderson's preliminary 
studies and scholastic successes, we find him, in 1882, acting inspector-general 
of Illinois volunteers in the Black Hawk War. He filled this situation, with 
credit to himself, from May until the ensuing October. In the following June, 
1833, he was made first-lieutenant. From 1885 to 1837 he occupied the respon- 
sible post of assistant instructor and inspector at the United States military 
academy. He was assigned to the staif of General Winfield Scott as . aide-de- 
camp in 1838 ; and in 1839 published his " Instructions for Field Artillery, Horse 
and Foot, arranged for the Service of the United States" — a handbook of great 
practical value. 

Lieutenant Anderson's services during the Indian troubles were acknowl- 
edged by a brevet captaincy, April 2d, 1S38. In July of the same year, he was 
made assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of captain, which he subsequently 




[f(yt^^ty?-l!r'/2/n.d£yr^'^ 



iL-VKiR i,'oiM-',i,''i' ^^'|l|•■|;-;n^• r ^ \ 



ROBERTANDERSON. 91 

reliuquislied oa being promoted to a captaincy in his own regiment, the third 
artillery. 

In March, 1847, he was with his regiment in the army of General Scott, and 
took part in the siege of Vera Cruz ; being one of the officers to whom was in- 
trusted, by Colonel Bankhead, the command of the batteries. This duty he 
accomplished with signal skill and gallantry. He remained with the army until 
its triumphant entry into the Mexican capital the following September. 

During the operations in the valley of Mexico, Captain Anderson was at- 
tached to the brigade of General Garland, which formed a portion of General 
Worth's division. In the attack on El Molino del Eey, September 8th, Ander- 
son was severely wounded. His admirable conduct under the circumstances was 
the theme of praise on the part of his men 'and superior officers. Captain Burke, 
his immediate commander, in his dispatch of September 9th, savs: "Captain 
Eobert Anderson (acting field-officer) behaved with great heroism on this occa- 
sion. Even after receiving a severe and painful wound, he continued at the 
head of the column, regardless of pain and self-preservation, and setting a hand- 
some example to his men of coolness, energy, and courage." General Garland 
speaks of him as being " with some few others the very first to enter the strong- 
position of El Molino ;" and adds that " Brevet-Major Buchanan, fourth infantry, 
Captain Robert Anderson, third artillery, and Lieutenant Sedgwick, second artil- 
lery, appear to have been particularly distinguished for their gallant defence of 
the captured works." In addition to this testimony, General "Worth dii-ected the 
attention of the secretary of war to the part he had taken in the action. He was 
made brevet-major, his commission dating from the day of the battle. 

In the year 1851, he was promoted to the full rank of major, in the first 
artillery. It was while holding this rank, and in command of the garrison of 
Fort Moultrie, that the storm which has so devastated this fair land first gathered 
strength and broke upon us. 

On the 20th day of December, 1860, the state of South Carolina declared 
itself out of the Union. The event was celebrated in numerous Southern towns 
and cities by the firing of salutes, military parades, and secession speeches. At 
New Orleans, a bust of Calhoun was exhibited, decorated with a cockade ; and 
at Memphis the citizens burned Senator Andrew Johnson in effigy. The jDlague 
of disloyalty overspread the entire South. In the mean time, while the commis- 
sioners from South Carolina and the plotting members of Congress from the bor- 
der states were complicating matters with a timid and vacillating President, Major 
Anderson found himself, with less than a hundred men, shut up in an untenable 
fort, his own government fearing to send him reinforcements. Cut off from aid 
or supplies, menaced on every side, the deep mumiurs of war growing louder and 
more threatening, the position of Major Anderson and his handful of men became 



93 ROBERT ANDERSON. 

imminent in the extreme. At this juncture of affairs, the brave soldier gave us 
an illustration of his forethought and sagacity. 

One sunny morning, crowds of anxious people fringed the 'wharves of 
Charleston, watching the mysterious curls of smoke that rose lazily from the 
ramparts of Fort Moultrie, and floated off seaward — smoke from the burning 
gun-carriages. 

On the night previous, Major Anderson had quietly removed his men and 
stores to Fort Sumter, the strongest of the Charleston fortifications, and the key 
of its defences. The deserted guns of Moultrie were spiked, and the carriages 
burned to cinders. The evacuation of the fort commenced a little after sunset. 
The men were ordered to hold themselves in readiness, with their knapsacks 
packed, at a second's notice ; but up to the moment of their leaving they had 
no idea of abandoning the post. They were reviewed on parade, and then or- 
dered to two schooners lying in the vicinity. The garrison flag unwound itself 
to the morning over Sumter. 

The rage of the South at this unexpected strategic manoeuvre, was equalled 
in its intenseness only by the thrill of joy which ran through the North. Major 
Anderson and his command were safe, for the time being, and treason discon- 
certed. "Major Eobert Anderson," says the Charleston Courier, bitterly, "has 
achieved the iinenviable distinction of opening civil war between American citi- 
zens, by an act of gross breach of faith." The sequel proved his prudence. 
Having all the forts of the harbor under his charge, he had, necessarily, the right 
to occupy whafever post he deemed expedient. He did his duty, and he did it 
well. His course was sustained in the House of Eepresentatives, January 7th, 
1861. 

Before the first burst of indignation had subsided, Fort Moultrie was taken 
possession of by the South Carolinians, and carefully put into a state of defence. 
The rebel convention ordered immense fortifications to be built in and about 
Charleston harbor, to resist any reinforcements that might be sent to Major An- 
derson. Strong redoubts were thrown up on Morris' and James' Islands, and 
Forts Moultrie, Johnson, and Castle Pinckney, stood ready to belch flame and 
iron on the devoted little garrison. Sumter was invested : no ship could ap- 
proach the place in the teeth of those sullen batteries. 

On the 8th of April, information having been given by the United States 
government to the authorities of Charleston, that they desired to send supplies to 
Fort Sumter on an unarmed transport, they were informed that the vessel would 
be fired upon and not allowed to enter the port. The United States government 
then ofiicially advised the insurgents that supplies would be sent to Major Ander- 
son, peaceably if possible, otherwise by force. Lieutenant Talbot, attached to 
the garrison of Fort Sumter, and bearer of this dispatch, was not permitted to 



ROBERTA NDER SON. 93 

proceed to Ms post. The steamer Star of the West was signalled at the entrance 
of the harbor on the morning of the 9th. She displayed the United States flag, 
but was fired into, repeatedly, from Morris' Island battery. Her course was then 
altered, and she again put out to sea. 

A formidable floating battery, constructed and manned at Charleston, was 
taken out of dock on the evening of the 10th, and anchored in a cove near Sul- 
livan's Island. About seven thousand troops now crowded the earthworks and 
forts, under command of General G. T. Beauregard. ' The report that a fleet lay 
off the bay, waiting for a favorable tide to enter the harbor and relieve the fort, 
caused the greatest excitement in Charleston. 

On the afternoon of April 11th, Colonel Chestnut and Major Lee, aids to 
General Beauregard, conveyed to Fort Sumter the demand that Major Anderson 
should evacuate that fort. Major Anderson refused to accede to the demand. 
On being waited on by a second deputation (April 12, 1 A. M.), desiring him to 
state what time he would evacuate, and to stipulate not to fire upon the batteries 
in the meantime. Major Anderson rejjlied that he would evacuate at the noon of 
the 15th, if not previously otherwise ordered, or not supplied, and that he would 
not in the meanwhile open his fire unless compelled by some hostile act against 
his fort or the flag of his government. At 3.30 A. M., the officers who received 
this answer notified Major Anderson that the batteries under command of Gen- 
eral Beauregard, would open on Fort Sumter in one hour, and immediately left. 
The sentinels on Sumter were then ordered in from the parapets, the posterns 
closed, and the men directed not to leave the bomb-proofs until summoned by the 
drum. The garrison had but two days' rations. 

At 4.30 Friday morning, fire was opened upon Fort Sumter from Fort Moul- 
trie, and soon after from the batteries on Mount Pleasant and Cummings' Point, 
then from an unsuspected masked battery of heavy columbiads on Sullivan's 
Island. It soon became evident that no part of the beleagured fort was without 
the range of the enemy's guns. A rim of scarlet fire encircled it. Meanwhile 
the undaunted little band of seventy true men, took breakfast quietly at the reg- 
ular hour, reserving their fire until 7 A. M., when they opened their lower tier of 
guns upon Fc*t Moultrie, the iron battery on Cummings' Point,' the two works 
on Sullivan's Island, and the floating battery, simultaneously. When the first 
relief went to work, the enthusiasm of the men was so great that the second and 
third reliefs could not be kept from the guns. The rebel iron battery was of im- 
mense strength, and our balls glanced from it like hail-stones. Fort Moultrie, 
however, stood the cannonading badly, a great many of our shells taking effect 
in the embrasures. Shells from every point burst against the various walls of 
Sumter, and the fire upon the parapet became so terrific that Major Anderson 
refused to allow the men to work the barbette guns. There were no cartridge- 



94 ROBERT ANDERSON. 

bags, and the men were set to making them out of shirts. Fire broke out in the 
baiTacks three times, and was extinguished. Meals were served at the guns. At 
6 P. M. the fire from Sumter ceased. Fire was kept up by the enemy during the 
night, at intervals of twenty -five minutes. 

At daybreak the following morning the bombardment recommenced. Fort 
Sumter resumed operations at 7 A. M. An hour afterward the ofiicers' quarters 
took fire from a shell, and it was necessary to detach nearly all the men from the 
guns to stop the conflagration. Shells from Moultrie and Moms' Island now fell 
faster than ever. The efiect of the enemy's shot, on the officers' quarters in par- 
ticular, was terrible. One tower was so completely demolished that not one brick 
was left standing upon another. The main gates were blown away, and the walls 
considerably weakened. Fearful that they might crack, and a shell pierce the 
magazine, ninety-six barrels of powder were emptied into the sea ; finally the 
magazine had to be closed; the material for cartridges was exhausted, and the 
garrison was lefb destitute of any means to continue the contest. The men had 
eaten the last biscuit thirty-six hours before. They were nearly stifled by the 
dense, livid smoke from the burning buildings, lying prostrate on the ground 
with wet handkerchiefs over their mouths and eyes. The crashing of the shot, 
the bursting of the shells, the falling of the masonry, and the mad roaring of the 
flames, made a pandemonium of the place. Strangely enough, but four men had 
been injured, thus far, and those only slightly. 

Toward the close of the day, ex-Senator Wigfall suddenly made his appear- 
ance at an embrasure with a white handkerchief on the point of a sword, and 
begged to see Major Anderson, asserting that he came from General Beauregard. 

" Well, sir !" said Major Anderson, confronting him. 

General Wigfall, in an excited manner, then demanded to know on what 
terms Major Anderson would evacuate the position. The major infoi-med him 
that General Beauregard was already advised of the terms. "Then, sir," said 
Wigfall, "the fort is ours." "On those conditions," replied Major Anderson. 
During this interview the firing from Moultrie and Sullivan's Island had not 
ceased, though General Wigfall timidly displayed a white flag at an embrasure 
facing the batteries. Wigfall retired. * 

A short time afterward a deputation, consisting of Senator Chestnut, Eoger 
A. Pryor, and two others, came from General Beauregard, and had an interview 
with Major Anderson : it then turned out that the ofiicious Wigfall had " acted 
on his own hook," without any authority whatever from his commanding gen- 
eral. After a protracted consultation and a second deputation, Major Anderson 
agreed to evacuate Fort Sumter the next day. This was Saturday evening. 
That night the garrison took what rest it could. Next morning the Isabel an- 
chored near the fort to receive the gallant little band. The terms of evacuation 



ROBERTANDERSON. 95 

were tliat tlie garrison should take all its individual and company property ; .that 
they should march out with their side and other arms with all the honors, in 
their own way, and at their own time ; that they should salute their flag and take 
it with them. 

With their tattered flag flying, and the band playing national airs, these sev- 
enty heroes marched out of Fort Sumter. Seventy to seven thousand ! 

Major Anderson's heroic conduct had drawn all loyal hearts toward him, and 
it was the wish of the country that he should immediately be invested with some 
important command. He was made a brigadier-general, and sent to Kentucky 
to superintend the raising of troops in that state. But the terrible ordeal through 
which he had just passed, and the results of hardships undergone in Mexico, un- 
fitted him for active duty. Since then. General Anderson has resided in New 
York City. 

A tall, elderly gentleman in undress uniform, leading a little child by the 
hand, is often seen passing slowly along Broadway. His fine, intellectual face is 
the index to the genuine goodness and nobility of his heart. Though men of 
noisier name meet you at each corner, your eyes foUow pleasantly after this one 
— Eobert Anderson. 




THEODOEE WH^TTHEOP. 

THEODOEE "WINTIIROP, who fell in the battle of Great Bethel, Yirginio, 
June 10th, 1861, was bom in New Haven, Connecticut, September 21st, 
1828. He was a lineal descendant of the first John "Winthrop, who in 1630 led 
out fi-om England one of the noblest of the many Puritan colonies, and became 
himself governor of the commonwealth of Massachusetts. In the next genera- 
tion we find the second John Winthrop joining the Connecticut colony, soon 
raised to its chief magistracy, and in 1665 procuring for her from the crown that 
charter of privileges which became the herald and nurse of her future indepen- 
dence, and which, in 1688, she held against the threats and baits of the throne 
and its royal representative. Thus Winthrop died to maintain the rights now 
and ever supported by his ancestors. It was then the colony against the founder. 
It is now the country against the state. The one was a protest of a mature 
daughter against a false and cruel mother : the other is a protest of the head and 
heart and soul against the hand or foot which would be separated from the nour- 
ishing body of which it is a living member. Later still the family furnished yet 
another governor, and have in every succeeding generation shared her protection 
and dignities. 

Major Winthrop's father was Francis Bayard Winthrop, a gentleman of 
wealth and education, who was graduated from Yale College in 1804, and died 
at his residence in New Haven in' 1841. His mother is a grand-daughter of 
President Dwight, and a sister of President Wolsey — ^the latter almost a syno- 
nym for scholarship, manners, and a Christianized Roman virtue. Thus Win- 
throp's very name is pervaded with New England virtues and memories — an 
aristocratic name, if one can bring himself to utter a term so fraught with mean- 
ness, pride, and tyranny, so hateful to a Christian republican ; for, in spite of all 
levelling, social theories, blood is character. The Edwardses, the Dwights, the 
Wolseys, and the Winthrops, did meet in the antecedent blood of Theodore 
Winthrop, the soldier, and went to mould and inspire the future hero. We are 
each the resultant of past forces ; and not only the looks and tones, the habits 
and traits of our fathers, but their spirit, their sentiment, and their "faith un- 
feigned," leave their invisible, silent deposits in our veins. 

As a boy, l^ajor Winthrop is described as fair and pale in feature, but not 




M.\J_ THEODORE \W\'THROP- 



THEODOREWINTHROP. QI7 

sickly, delicate in frame, neat in habits, quick and rather precocious in studies. 
He entered Yale from the well-known school of Messrs. French, of New Haven 
and was gi-aduated with the class of 1848. At first he seemed indifferent to lit- 
erary success ; but about the middle of his course his spirit received a mighty 
momentum, as if a new soul possessed him. Always highly reflective beyond 
his years, the thought that he was the eldest son, and must sustain the ancestral 
honors by his personal character and deeds, together with the solemn shadow of 
life which falls heavily on every sensible and conscientious youth as he passes 
on through college, awoke him to the intensest activity. The result of this dis- 
ciijline of thought was soon evinced in his sharing the honor, though not the 
prize, of the senior Bericleian with one classmate, and in his wresting, by severs 
competition, from another prominent scholar, the Clark scholarship, then for the 
first time put on a foundation. This contest placed him on perhaps the most 
honorable list which Yale presents, the "Scholars of the House ;" and was more 
significant of power, since the ordeal was new. The later "Biennial" had not 
been inaugurated. 

Soon after graduation, Winthrop, with Rutledge of South Carolina, and oth- 
ers, formed the first class in the "School of PhilosoiDhy and Ari;s;" a department 
generously established the year previous, and opening before the youthful scholar 
a broader range of studies worthy of his best ambition. As the winter wore 
away, Winthrop's mind proved of a finer grain than had been suspected. He 
loved metaphysics, and, without remarkable talent for logical inquiry, entered 
with keen and penetrative sagacity into the vast questions of the infinite, and 
the unknown, and the phenomenal— the vasta semina rerum which will loom up 
around the chaotic mind of youth. Winthrop seems then to have had a clear, 
neat, keen intellect, and to have been earnest and tender in spirit, manly in 
tastes, noble in resolves, high-bred in manners, and showing that poetic refine- 
ment and almost ethereal delicacy of sentiment which usually go with the fine 
organism of the Saxon. 

But this severe mental work, added to private literary studies, proved too 
much for his frame. His physicians told him he must travel. Giving up the 
plans of theology, literature, and law, which he had successively formed in 
choosing a profession, he embarked in July, 1849, for Europe. By his journal, 
we find him arriving at London, August 28th ; in Paris, November 23d ; and at 
Eome, January 9th. With eyes, ears, and pen continually busy, he spends 
February in traversing eastern Italy, March in Greece, April in northern Italy, 
and, after tramping in a sturdy pedestrian tour through Germany and Swit- 
zeriand, returns to Paris in September. To enter and mingle thus in the 
historic glories of the Old Worid, was a privilege longed for from childhood ; 
and yet his itineraries show that travel cultured and broadened his observint' 



98 THEODOREWINTHROP. 

mind only to sadden it. In London, at the outset of his journey, he writes, 
"I am half-dead in body and mind;" and at Paris, at its close, he bitteriy 
exclaims on his birth-day, "Life at present offers me no hope." This subtle, 
pervasive melancholy was due less to disease than the fine structure of his mind. 
Nothing can exceed the sufferings of a gifted youth who is conscious of power, 
yet unable to gauge that power, determine its true field, and realize it in action. 
He longs to traverse the sea of life where his companions have wandered before 
him, hearing in the distance its tumultuous waves, each crested with hopes yet 
dark below, the grave of many projects. Full of allusions to death, he dreads it 
not. It is the premature decay of mental health, this dying before one has half 
lived or even begun to live, that cast down his high and regnant soul. In his 
last years, philosophy, religion, and worldly knowledge, brought him to a " se- 
rene and upper air," which no such fears could disturb.. In Greece alone he 
becomes buoyant and elastic. It was sacred ground, where heroes called to his 
classic mind from every hill and stream and valley ; a land pervaded with high 
resolves, long since made good in history. He, too, could become all he wished ; 
for, to a true heart, a clear purpose is more inspiring even than achievement. 

In April, 1851, three months after his return, Mr. "VVinthrop entered the 
Pacific Mail Steamship Company, at the invitation of W. H. Asjjinwall, Esq., 
whose acquaintance he had made in Europe. His diaries show him still alive to 
poetry, metaphysics, criticisms ; still wrestling with the problem of the life of 
the body and the higher life of the soul. In one place he says strongly : " Men 
die for three reasons; because they have, or cannot, or will not, achieve their 
destiny. As for me, I luould belong to the first class ; but, finding myself in the 
third, prefer, even with a shock to my pride, to be ranked in the second, and pray 
that the fruitless struggle may be soon ended." He fears that he cannot realize 
a perfect manhood; and yet who would have thought that such jjensiveness 
could underlie so much life, action, and noble feeling? 

In September, Mr. Winthrop recrossed the Atlantic, to place Mr. Aspin- 
wall's son and nephew at school in Switzerland, and, after revisiting some of the 
more interesting portions of Germany, enters upon his old duties in January, 
1852. The ensuing autumn finds him in Panama, in the employment of the 
steamship company, and almost well and happy. The tropics, where physical 
life is most intense, varied, and perfect, is a new world. Every thing invites 
and promises adventure. The spirit of travel is strong upon him, and he cannot 
be quiet. Nature speaks, and he is her child, and must ever listen with rever- 
ence and joy to her many voices. After often traversing the Isthmus with the 
treasure-parties, he returned home by San Francisco. Here the observer, poet, 
thinker, is busy. The mines of California, the filthy delusions of Utah, sickness 
at the Dalles of the Columbia, the hospitalities of Governor Ogden of the Hud- 



THEODORE W I XTHROP. 99 

son's Bay Company, perils from treacherous Indians, tlie wilderness, the desert, 
and the mountains, crowd his note-book with thrilling incident and vivid pic- 
t\ire» These are partly embodied in "John Brent," and a volume of Sketches, 
yet to be published. 

He returns to the counting-room in November ; but his heart and fancy are 
still abroad. Accordingly, in January, 1854, with Mr. Aspinwall's consent, he 
joins Lieutenant Strain's expedition to prospect for a ship-canal among the Sier- 
ras of the Isthmus, and would have perished from hardships had he not wandered 
from his party and been forced to make his way back to the ship. Returning to 
New York, he began in March the study of law in the office of Charles Tracy, 
Esq. ; and after his admission to the bar, in 1855, remained with him as clerk 
another year. 

The following summer finds him travelling in Maine with Church the artist, 
and under their mutual inspiration he drinks in nature with the soul of a poet 
and the eye of a painter. He returned to enter the political campaign of 1856. 
Long since a Republican in heart and by scholarship, he canvassed for Fremont 
in Pennsylvania, entering with all his energies into that conflict between slave- 
ocracy and liberty of which the present civil war is the bloody consummation. 
America, to use his own strong words, seemed — 

" A noble land to stride athwart and wake 
^ All its myriads up to noble thought ; 

Deep sleep of thousand hearts to break, 
Till great deliverance is wrought I " 

After the issue, he established himself in law at St. Louis ; but the climate and 
life not suiting, he returned in July, 1858, to find at last his true calling — the 
pleasing, perilous field of literature and authorship. Never did a writer use more 
conscientious energy. He studied, read, wrote, and rewrote, mastered botany, 
and travelled by every method ; so that the thought, the quotation, the style, 
the features, might be perfect — coming ever near the face and heart of his great 
teacher. Nature. " The March of the Seventh New York Regiment to "Wash- 
ington," and "Love and Skates," two well-known contributions to the Atlantic 
Monthly, "Cecil Dreeme," "John Brent," and "Edwin Brothertoft," are already 
published; while a volume of travels is promised — but a small portion of 
the embryo novels, tales, essays, and poems, which shine among his papers. 
The prelude has become, with his deeds, the whole drama. "John Brent" espe- 
cially abounds in masterly single pictures of scenes and characters ; while all his 
works are marked by a clear, neat, antithetic style, and sublimed by just, warm, 
nobly humane sentiments. Here and there we find a broad generalization, show- 
ing that fine philosophy which the deeper novelist always draws from. 



100 THEODORE WINTHROP. 

But, at the fall of Sumter, Winthrop dropped the pen and grasped the 
sword. The acts which followed all know. He joined the seventh regiment at 
New York; marched with it to Washington; became a member of General 
Butler's staff, as aid and military secretaiy, at Fortress Monroe; and aided in 
planning the attack on the batteries at Great Bethel, where, on the disastrous 
10th of June, he fell in the van, his firm wiry form erect, waving his sword, and 
calling his comrades on into the veiy jaws of death. 

And yet he did not die, he cannot die. The brave, like the good, die never. 
He lives — destined to be an inspiring historic name of the war. 

But Winthrop's life and death are best sung by himself, in his own poems : 

" March we must, ever wearily, 

March we will ; true men will be true 

" Mine be a life 
Of struggle and endurance, and a free 
Dash at the fates wliich front us terribly I 
Certain bliss, yet nobler effort still I 
Grander duties, gemmed with finer joys. — 
He sleeps I Ah, well I not on some field 
"Where victor charge and victor shout, 
Kinging through feeble pulses, pealed 
As when a falchion smites a shield, 
And dying hearts, too happy, yield 
Their life wth conquering pEeans out I" 





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C/T-C—^ 



REV HENRY W BELLOW'S D D, 



HEI^ET W. BELLOWS, D. D. 

DR BELLOWS has for many years been quite prominent as a writer and 
preacher, but of late he has risen to a new and national position as head 
of the Sanitary Commission, and of course as chief adviser in that great work of 
saving the health and life of our troops, which is quite as important as leading 
them to victory. He is still a young man, for one who has accomplished so 
much. He was born in Boston, June 11th, 1814, thus being under forty-eight 
years of age. He received his early education there, and completed his prepara- 
tion for college at the famous Round Hill School at Northampton, Massachusetts, 
while it was under the charge of George Bancroft and Dr. Cogswell. He entered 
Harvard College in 1828, and graduated in 1832. Spending the two subsequent 
years in teaching, part of the time in Louisiana, he returned to Cambridge to 
study theology at the Divinity School there, and completed his course in 1837. 
A few months afterward (January 2d, 1838), he was ordained pastor of the First 
Congregational Church in New York city, where he still continues to labor. 
His church stood first in Chambers street, where he remained until a new edifice 
was built for him in Broadway, where Dr. Chapin now preaches ; and in a few 
years, on account of the rapid change in the centre of residences, the present 
All Souls' Church was erected for him, at the comer of Fourth avenue and 
Twentieth street. 

Dr. Bellows has made his mark upon the age, not only by the boldness of 
his positions and the fervor of his eloquence, but by prominent acts of execaitive 
force. He was the principal originator of the " Christian Inquirer," the Unita- 
rian newspaper of New York, in 1846, and for several years he was chief editoi-. 
He was the moving power in the rescue of Antioch College, Ohio, from extinc- 
tion, and in putting it upon a footing of usefulness and hope. He has been 
known to the country at large, however, by the original and eloquent sermons 
orations, and addresses, that have been put forth from time to time upon topics 
of popular interest. A volume of twenty or thirty of these productions will 
make an important chapter of our literary and social history, as well as an ex- 
cellent illustration of the many-sidedness of the man. The most conspicuous of 
these were his discourse at Cambridge on the suspense of faith, 1859, and his 
noted defence of the drama in 1857. This latter was really an act of great 



102 HENRY W. BELLOWS, D.D. 

bravery ; and while his performance was a profound and brilliant one, its heroism 
was even more memorable. 

Probably the most careful studies that he has given to the public are his 
lectures before the Lowell Institute, Boston, on the " Treatment of Social Dis- 
eases," in 1857. These lectures were very patient, practical, and sagacious, and 
undoubtedly prepared the author for his present task as President of the Sani- 
tary Commission. The organization of this commission was in great part his 
work ; and they who were with him throughout the first struggle of its friends to 
secure to it a firm foundation, testify to the boundless courage, versatile talent 
and practical sagacity, with which he earned his point, and won over to his 
cause the heads of the nation, and discomfited the red-tape procrastinators who are 
such masters of the art " How not to do it." His labors for nearly a year in this 
commission have been very great. He has conducted a large correspondence, 
given many addresses, had personal interviews with important persons, travelled 
east, west, and south, to inspect the camps and hospitals in person, and actually 
rendered the service of a major-general in the corps of militant benevolence. 
Meanwhile, he has kept his ministerial charge, and maintained the high intel- 
lectual and devotional character of his pulpit labors. 

Dr. Bellows is a versatile man, and, by a necessity of his nature, as well as 
from the opportunities of his position, he has taken a warm interest in subjects 
of the most diverse kind. Thus, shortly after astounding the old priesthoods by 
his defence of the drama before an association of actors, he came out with his 
famous discourse at Cambridge on the suspense of faith, and alarmed his old 
friends in freedom and progress with fears lest he were taking the back track, 
and would be soon at the Vatican, kneeling for the pope's blessing on his peni- 
tent head. But they who look to the springs of his convictions discover the 
interior unity of the man, and can see that he may be a warm champion of a new 
and purer Church Universal, and be all the more ready to give the beautiful arts, 
the drama among them, a place within its benediction. We should, perhaps, be 
sorry to be obliged to reconcile all Dr. Bellows' utterances through a term of 
years with each other, for he wi-ites and speaks from the spur of the moment, 
pushing his fiery steed on at full gallop, apparently without looking behind him. 
Yet it is very remarkable how well his various positions illustrate and complete 
each other ; and even when he runs counter to himself in appearance, as in his 
attitude at one time as a teacher of transcendentalism, and again as a champion 
of an authoritative Church, it will be found, as in his recent volume of sermons 
of various dates, that his course is cumulative, and that he is travelling over dif- 
ferent parts of the same great domain, and now ranging in the open pasture and 
now resting in the safe fold. If, however, he had the same power in setting forth 
and urging a complete system of truth or practice that he has shown in dealing 



HENRY W. BELLOWS, D.D. 103 

with specific ideas and measures, he would take a place among the great con- 
structive nunds of the age. As yet he has not brought his convictions and 
powers to bear organically upon his work, and his brilliant thoughts sometimes 
flash more in lines of impulsive force, like the lightning, than shine together like 
the constellations. Yet it is not difficitlt to conceive of him as combining his 
views, experiences and plans into one method, and bringing his electric power to 
bear upon some great and permanent work of social or religious construction. 
He has some great gifts as a religious teacher and organizer ; and if he lives 
twenty years, he ought to do something to meet the great want of our time, 
which he has so ably set forth, the want of a broad and effective and truly cath- 
olic church system, that shall be at once generous and strong. As it is, how- 
ever, he has done little in this direction ; and with gifts that in some respects 
rival "Wesley's or even Loyola's, he has been apparently little ambitious of 
church influence, and depends mainly upon his rare personal power as preacher 
for the success of his ministry, withoiit any help fi-om the methods of edification 
and administration which he so powerfully discusses and advocates as needed to 
unite and strengthen the generous minds of our day. As yet, he talks catholi- 
city, and practises extreme individualism. 

Dr. Bellows is an acute and original thinker, a shrewd observer of men, a 
lover of the best books, especially of the day, a ready and brilliant writer and 
eloquent speaker, a cordial friend, a humane and devout Christian. His main 
gift that marks him above most other men is a certain force of character that 
gives him direct influence ' over others. He has contemporaries more learned, 
more philosophical, more constructive than he, and quite as brilliant in style and 
eloquent in speech. But no man can carry a given point where enthusiasm and 
moral power are needed so well as he ; and he has a certain princely quality in 
his temper and presence that gives him remarkable sway. Were he not emi- 
nently public-spirited, and fall generally of humane purposes, his tone might 
often seem presuming; but in leading movements he rides his hobby or his 
knightly steed not for himself, but for the good cause of patriotism, or humanity, 
or faith ; and while the superannuated dignitaries of the faculty, or the staff, or 
the pulpit, whom he starts from their sleep, may curse him for his insolence, the 
patriots and philanthropists of the land will honor him as a brave and sagacious 
reformer, and wish him God-speed in his campaign of mercy and heroism. 

These stirring times have evidently had a decided effect on Dr. Bellows' 
ways of thinking. He has long been a leader in the liberal school of thought, 
and has given a large part of his life to vindicating the rights of the human soul 
against ancient prescriptions and priesthoods, dogmas and dignities. In this he 
has followed in the track of Channing, and sometimes he has approached the 
extreme individuahsm of Emerson, and tended to shght the power of positive 

14 



TO-4 HENRY W. BELLOWS, D.D. 

institutions and constitutional laws. Of late years he has been more conserva- 
tive, and since his public position has connected him more closely with national 
affairs, and shown him the difficulty of carrying out abstract ideas, and the im- 
portance of uniting men as far as possible upon some standard of authority, he 
has taken a bold stand with the constitutional party. He is now, as ever, an 
emancipationist, but he trusts mainly in the power of social and moral causes to 
free the slave ; and, while favoring the rigid enforcement of law against rebe 
slaveholders, he is for leaving to all loyal states and men their full rights of local 
jurisdiction under the constitution. 

In person. Dr. Bellows carries dignity and suavity, and has an air of experi- 
ence and age beyond his actual years. At heart, however, he is very young, and 
can be as merry and amusing as any of the solid old fathers of the Church, like 
Luther and his compeers, who thought an honest laugh sometimes no unseemly 
preparation for a sincere prayer. Perhaps the doctor's prayers are the best thing 
that he does ; and the fair inference is, that if so much unction drops so readily 
from his lips, there must be a deep fountain within. It is well that he is thus a 
devout man, and earnest to subdue his will to the Supreme will ; for his temper- 
ament is of the impulsive, commanding kind, such as tends, not from calculation 
but from instinct, to take the lead, and to submit with great difficulty to any 
other position. If the army has thus lost a brave and somewhat exacting gen- 
eral, or the Senate a brilliant and imperious leader, the Church has gained a 
commanding preacher, and humanity a fearless and faithful friend. 




COM S F nitP(.)NT. 1' S X 



SAMUEL FEANOIS DU POITT. 

SAMUEL FRANCIS DU PONT, rear-admiral in the United States naxj, 
was born at Bergen Point, New Jersey, September 27th, 1803. His grand- 
father, Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours, well known in French history as a 
political economist, and a representative in the Chamber of Notables and the 
States-General, emigrated to America with his two sons, Victor and E. S. Du 
Pont, at the close of the year 1799. The elder of these resided in the state of 
New York until 1809, when he removed with his family to the neighborhood of 
Wilmington, Delaware, of which state his son. Admiral Du Pont, is a resident 
and citizen. The latter was, in 1815, when but twelve years of age, commissioned 
by President Madison a midshipman in the United States navy ; and it is an 
interesting fact that Mr. Jeiferson, alluding to the appointment in a letter to his 
grandfather, expressed the hope that he might live to be an admiral. He sailed 
on his j&rst cruise in 1817, on board the Franklin, seventy-four, under Commo- 
dore Stewart, and thenceforth for many years performed the ordinary routine 
duties of his profession, which, owing to the peaceful relations subsisting between 
the United States and foreign powers, were of no special importance. He, how- 
ever, showed himself an active and able officer, in whatever capacity employed, 
and saw a fair proportion of sea-service. 

In 1845, being then a commander, Du Pont was ordered to the Pacific, in 
command of the frigate Congress, bearing the broad pennant of Commodore 
Stockton, and was on the California coast at the commencement of the war with 
Mexico. He was soon after put in command of the sloop-of-war Cyane, and, in 
the varied and difficult service which fell to his lot, acquitted himself with pru- 
dence and gallantry, taking a conspicuous part in the conquest of Lower Cali- 
fornia. Four different commodores commanding on that station testified to the 
faithful manner in which he discharged his duties, and the secretary of the navy 
added the unqualified approval of his department. 

Early in February, 1818, Commander Du Pont, while lying off La Paz, as- 
certained that a brother-officer. Lieutenant Heywood, with four midshipmen and 
a few marines, was beleaguered in the mission-house of San Jose by an over- 
powering force of Mexicans under Colonel Piiieda. He immediately sailed for 
the latter place, landed on the 15th of the month a force of one hundred and two 



106 SAMUEL FRANCIS DU PONT. 

men of all ranks, and, defeating and dispersing the besiegers, wlio outnumbered 
him four or five to one, rescued the hard-pressed but dauntless little band of his 
countrymen. " I want words," wrote Commodore Shubrick, the commanding 
officer of the station, " to express my sense of the gallant conduct of these officers, 
but feel that I am perfectly safe in saying that the annals of war cannot furnish 
instances of greater coolness, of more indomitable perseverance, of more conspic- 
uous bravery, and of sounder judgment." 

In 1856, Du Pont attained the rank of captain, and in the succeeding year 
was placed in command of the steam-frigate Minnesota, which conveyed Mr. 
Reed, the American minister, to China. Arriving during the Anglo-French war 
with the Chinese, he was one of the first who visited Canton after its bombard- 
ment, and was also an eye-witness of the capture by the allies of the forts at the 
mouth of the Peiho River. He returned to the United States in 1859, having 
extended his cruise to Japan and the coast of southern Asia, and on January 1st, 
1861, was appointed to the command of the Philadelphia navy-yard. 

The outbreak of the Southern Rebellion found Du Pont on the active list 
of captains, and with a reputation for professional capacity and fidelity of which 
the government was not slow to avail itself. As a means of ci'ushing the naval 
jjower of the rebels, and cutting them ofi' effectually from supj^lies, it was early 
determined to occupy one or more important points on the Soxithern coast, where 
the blockading squadrons or cruisers of the government might resort for shelter 
or supplies, or rendezvous for expeditions ; and to Captain Du Pont was intrusted 
the selection of such a place. After consultation between Mr. Fox, assistant sec- 
retary of the navy, and himself, the harbor of Port Royal, on the coast of South 
Carolina, was fixed upon ; and during the summer and autumn of 1861, prej^a- 
rations for a joint naval and military expedition thither were vigorously but 
quietly pursued. The land-forces, under the command of General Thomas W. 
SheiTuan, assembled at Annapolis, whence on October 21st they were conveyed 
in transports to Fortress Monroe, to join the fleet of war-vessels under Commo- 
dore Du Pont with which they were intended to co-operate. On the 29th, the 
whole fleet, numbering upward of fifty sail, weighed anchor and stood out to sea, 
led by the steam-frigate Wabash, bearing the broad pennant of Commodore Du 
Pont, as commander of the South Atlantic blockading squadron. On the after- 
noon of November 1st, a heavy gale set in, which increased in violence during 
the night, and raged with fury until the next evening, dispersing the fleet in all 
directions, and causing the loss of several transports and a quantity of material. 
On Monday, the 4th, the greater part of the fleet had assembled off Port Royal 
bar, which lies ten miles seaward, and is about two miles in width ; and the small 
steamer Vixen was immediately dispatched to find the channel, and replace the 
buoys removed by the rebels. This having been accomplished early in the after- 



SAMUEL FRANCIS DU PONT. 107 

noon of the same day, the gunboats and lighter transports were immediately sent 
forward, dispersing a fleet of small rebel steamers, under Commodore Tatnall; 
and a reconnoissanee discovered that Hilton Head and Bay Point, commanding 
the entrance to Port Royal harbor, called Broad River, which is here about two 
and a half miles wide, were i:irotected by works of great strength, scientifically 
constructed, and mounted with guns of heavy calibre. Fort Walker, on Hilton 
Head, at the southei'ly entrance of the river, mounted twenty-three pieces, many 
of which were rifled, and was the defence mainly relied upon for the protection 
of the harbor. The works on Bay Point comprised Fort Beauregard mounting 
fifteen guns, and a battery of four guns about half a mile distant. 

On Tuesday morning, the 5th, the "Wabash crossed the bar, followed by the 
frigate Susquehanna and the larger transports ; and another reconnoissanee, made 
by the gunboats, satisfied the commodore of the superiority of Fort Walker, against 
which he determined to direct his chief efforts. Wednesday being a stormy day, 
the attack upon the forts was deferred until Thursday morning, the 7th. 

The plan was, for the ships to steam in a circle or ellipse between the forts, 
running close to Hilton Head as they came down the river, and pouring broad- 
sides into Fort Walker ; and, on their return, attacking in a similar manner Fort 
Beauregard. The squadron was drawn up in two columns, the larger being 
headed by the Wabash, and at half-past nine in the morning stood into Broad 
River, and moved up past Fort Beauregard. At a few minutes before ten the 
action became general, and for -four hours a continuous stream of shot and shell 
was poured upon the rebel forts. The Wabash, directed by Commodore Da 
Pont in person, was carried by the soundings as close to the shore as possible, 
the engines working with barely enough power to give her steerage-way, and 
proceeded with such deliberation, that but three circuits were accomplished 
during the fight. At the same time her signals were given as regularly as on an 
ordinary occasion. Her heavy guns played with terrible effect upon the enemy, 
and she was herself a prominent target for the guns of either fort. The commo- 
dore estimated that he saved a hundred lives by keeping under way and bear- 
ing in close, and subsequently stated that he never conceived of such a fire as 
that of the Wabash in her second turn. She also bore in great measure the 
brunt of the enemy's fire ; as, after the first circuit, the small gunboats took their 
positions at discretion, and the Susquehanna and Bienville were her only coni- 
panions. At two o'clock, the enemy's fire began to slacken, and he was soon 
discovered in rapid flight from Fort Walker toward a neighboring wood. At 
half-past two, the work was occupied by a party from the Wabash, and on the 
succeeding morning Fort Beauregard was found deserted by its garrison. The 
casualties of the fleet were eight killed and twenty-three wounded ; and the rebel 
loss is supposed to have amounted to between one and two hundred. In the 



108 SAMUEL FRANCIS DTJ PONT. 

huriy of their flight they also abandoned every thing but their muskets. This 
victory, the most considerable gained since the defeat at Bull Run, excited uni- 
versal enthusiasm throughout the loyal states, and contributed very materially to 
restore confidence in the ability of the government to crush the rebellion, as well 
as to increase the eclat which had attended the naval operations in the war. 

Commodore Du Pont immediately took active measures to follow up his 
success ; and his fleet has since been busily employed in expeditions along the 
coast, or in co-operating with the land-forces under General Sherman and the 
other military ofiicers. During the year that he has commanded the South At- 
lantic blockading squadron, the vigilance of his subordinates has very materially 
checked the violations of the blockade so frequent in the early part of the war, 
and numerous captures of valuable vessels and cargoes have added to the re- 
sources of the government. In August, 1862, he was nominated by the President 
one of the seven rear-admirals on the active list authorized to be appointed by 
act of Congress. 

Apart from his sea-service, which covers a period of nearly a quarter of a 
century. Admiral Du Pont has been employed on shore in numerous important 
public diities requiring the exercise of high professional knowledge and experi- 
ence. He was one of the ofiS.cers consulted by Mr. Bancroft, when secretary of 
the navy, in regard to the formation of a naval school ; and a member of the 
board which organized the academy at Annapolis on its subsequent efficient 
footing. He has also served on boards convened for the purpose of making 
codes of rules and regulations for the government of the service, for the exami- 
nation of midshipmen, and similar purposes, and was for three years a prominent 
member of the lighthouse board, taking an active part in the creation of the 
present system for lighting the coast. He also performed the unwelcome duties 
of a member of the naval retiring board of 1855. More imjDortant than any of 
these services, perhaps, were his investigations with reference to the introduction 
of floating batteries for coast defence, which were embodied in a re^Dort esteemed 
of so much value, that it has been republished separately, and very generally con- 
sulted by officers of the engineer-corps. The late Lieutenant-General Sir Howard 
Douglas, the chief English authority on the subject, in a recent edition of his 
standard work on gunnery, has cited its opinions and conclusions with respect, 
and styles it " an admirable work." The private as well as the public career of 
A-dmiral Du Pont is without reproach. " No man," said Mr. Clayton, of Delaware, 
in the United States Senate, in allusion to his services, " is more beloved or hon- 
ored by his brother-officers in the navy, or more respected as an accomplished 
officer, sailor, and gentleman. No man hving stands in higher repute wherever 
he is known." 




Lieut. JOHN T <;}1KI-;I,F, I' S A. 



JOHI^^" TEOUT GEEBLE. 

AMONG- tlie events which give a peculiar sadness to the early history of the 
war, was the ill-advised attempt to drive the enemy from Great Bethel, on 
the 10th of June, 1861, and especially the fall of the gallant young artillery offi- 
cer, the sacrifice of whose own life on that occasion saved the main body of the 
attacking force from entire destruction. 

The memory of this brave soldier is now a part of his country's inheritance. 
His name will hereafter find an honorable mention in every history of the gi'eat 
North American republic. The following brief sketch of his life will show that 
the deeds which made his end illustrious, even amid defeat, were not the result 
of chance, but the legitimate fruits of right principles and of long and patient 
culture. 

JoHN^ Trout Greble, the oldest son of Edwin and Susan Virginia Greble, 
was bom in Philadelphia, January 19th, 1834. The traditions of the family 
were all patriotic. His great-grandfather on the paternal side, Andrew Greble, a 
native of Saxe Gotha, who came to this country in 1742, and settled permanently 
in Philadelphia, enlisted warmly in the cause of the War of Independence. He, 
with his four sons, joined the American army, and fought at the battles of 
Princeton and Monmouth. The ancestors of Lieutenant Greble on the mother's 
side were from Wales. They settled in Philadelphia in 1689. Though belong- 
ing to the Society of Friends, and professing the principles of non-resistance, they 
also espoused actively the cause of independence ; and two of them, Isaac Jones 
and William Major, great-grandfathers of Lieutenant Greble, were in the conti- 
nental army. 

The earliest aspirations of young Greble, so far as they are known, were all 
in keeping with these early traditions of the family. Though living in a home 
where all the avocations and interests were peaceful — though delicate in physical 
constitution, and possessed of a singular gentleness of disposition and manners, 
which followed him through life — he yet among his earliest dreams fondly con- 
templated the career of a soldier ; and when the time for decision came, he made 
a soldier's life his deliberate choice. 

In tracing the history of one who has given to the world proofs of good- 
ness, wisdom, and valor, it is instractive and interesting to know the influences 
which contributed to the formation of his character. No formative influences 



110 JOHX TROUT GREBLE. 

compare witli those whicli cluster around one's liome. A man's father, mother, 
brothers and sisters, beyond all other human agencies, help to make him what 
he is. No one could have had even a passing acquaintance with young Greble, 
without feeling an assured conviction that the home which had nurtured him 
was the abode of the gentler virtues. Next to home, in its influence upon the 
character, is the school. In early childhood, Greble attended for a short time a 
private school kept by a lady, where he learned the first rudiments of knowledge. 
With this exception, all his education, outside of his home, was received in pub- 
lic schools ; first in those of his native city, and afterward in that of the general 
government at West Point. He entered the Ringgold Grammar School of Phila- 
delphia at the age of eight, and remained there four years. At the age of twelve 
having passed a successful examination, he was admitted to the Central High 
School. There he remained another four years. Having completed the course 
in that institution, he graduated with distinction in June, 1850, receiving the 
degree of bachelor of arts at the early age of sixteen. 

Up to this point, his education had been conducted without reference to a 
military career. It had been his father's expectation, in due time, to receive him 
as a partner in his own business ; but when the time for selecting a profession 
drew near, he was so clear and decided in his preferences, that his parents wisely 
determined not to thwart him. The decision, when made known, created some 
surprise in the mind of the principal of the High School, between whom and 
himself relations of more than usual kindness had grown up. There was noth- 
ing in the appearance or manners of the youth to point him out to the mind of 
an instructor as one likely to choose the life of a soldier ; there was nothing in 
his disposition in any way combative or belligerent. He was never known to 
have a quarrel with a schoolmate. He was gentle almost to softness; pacific 
even to the yielding of his own will and pleasure, in almost every thing that did 
not imply a yielding of principle. His military taste seemed to be the result of 
some peculiar inclination of his genius, leading him, as if by instinct, to his true 
vocation. 

The Honorable L. C. Levin, at that time representative in Congress from 
Mr. Greble's district, having heard of the young man's desire for a military life, 
and knowing him to be a youth of fine promise, generously and without solicita- 
tion, tendered him a cadetship at West Point. Having received the appoint- 
ment, he entered the academy in June, 1850, the very day but one after his 
graduation at the High School. The letter of recommendation which he bore 
with him to the professors of the academy is thought worthy of record here, be- 
cause it shows the impression he had made on the minds of his earlier instructors, 
and because he himself always set a peculiar value upon it as coming fi-om one 
whom he had learned to love almost as a father : 



JOHN TROUT GREBLE. Ill 

"Central High School, Puiladelphia, June llfh, 1850. 
" To the Professors of the Military Academy at West Point. 

" Gentlemen : Mr. John T. Greble liaving been appointed a cadet in your 
institution, I beg leave to commend tim to your kind consideration. As he has 
been for four years under my care, I may claim to know him well ; and I recom- 
mend him as a young man of good abilities and amiable disposition ; punctual 
in the discharge of duty, and seldom off his post. In these whole four years he 
has lost, I believe, but two days — -one from sickness, and one to attend the fu- 
neral of a classmate. He leaves the High School with the unqualified confidence 
and respect of every professor in it. 

" Your obedient servant, John S. Hart, Principal." 

The career of the young, cadet was not marked by any thing worthy of espe- 
cial record. At West Point, as at the High School, his habits were studious, 
while his amiable manners and soldierly conduct won for him the friendship of 
his fellow-cadets and of his professors. After graduating with credit in June, 
1854, he at once entered the army, and was attached to the second regiment of 
artillery as brevet second-lieutenant. He was ordered first to Newport barracks, 
and shortly afterward to Tampa, Florida, where part of his regiment was sta- 
tioned, to keep the Seminoles in order. While there, he made the acquaintance 
of the celebrated chief Billy Bowlegs. The latter took a great fancy to the young 
lieutenant, and, in testimony of his admiration, promised him that, in case of war 
between the Seminoles and the whites, the lieutenant should not be slain by any 
of his young warriors, but should have the honor of being killed by the chief, 
Billy Bowlegs himself ! 

The arduous duties detailed to Lieutenant Greble, in scouring the everglades 
and swamps in search of the Indians, brought on a violent fever. The disease 
not yielding to medical skill, he was ordered home, with the hope that a change 
of climate might effect a cure. From the effects of this illness he never entirely 
recovered. Having remained with his parebts for a short time, and before his 
health was really sufficiently established to justify a return to active duty, he 
again took charge of a detachment of recruits, and proceeded with them to Fort 
Myers, in Florida, in March, 1856. He remained in Florida until December of 
that year, engaged in the same uninviting duties which had already imperilled 
his health — searching swamps and everglades for stealthy and vindictive foes, 
who were always near, yet never to be seen by a superior force ; hiding them- 
selves in the water, with a leaf to cover the head, or wrapped up in the dark 
moss of a cypress or live-oak, ready to shoot any unwary white man who might 
be so unfortunate as to cross their hiding-place. The young lieutenant escaped 
at length the perils of this inglorious warfare, and was transferred to a field of 
duty less dangerous and of much more importance. 

15 



112 JOHN TROUT GREBLE. 

In December, 1856, at the request of the professors of "West Point, the secre- 
tary of war ordered Lieutenant Greble to report himself at the post for academic 
duty. He was made assistant to the Eeverend John W. French, D. D., chaplain 
of the post, and professor of ethics. It became the duty of the assistant professor 
to instruct the cadets in international and constitutional law, and in the constitu- 
tion of the United States. He applied himself at once to the task with his char- 
acteristic constancy and zeal. Finding that the confinement and sedentary life inci- 
dent to his new duties were impairing his health, he twice made application to be 
placed again in active service ; but the request was not gi-anted, and he remained 
in that position until the end of the term for which he had been appointed, a 
period of four years. 

The comparatively tame and inactive life at the academy was not without 
its compensations to the ardent young soldier. In the refined and cultivated 
domestic circle which graced the home of Professor French, the assistant found 
congenial society. On the 4th of August, 1858, he was married to Sarah B., 
eldest daughter of Professor French. Two of the happiest years of his life fol- 
lowed this union. In October of 1860, Lieutenant Greble was relieved from duty 
at "West Point, and ordered to join his company at Fortress Monroe. His wife 
and children joined him in November. In anticipation qf their coming, he had 
fitted up the homely apartments appropriated to their use, in the casemates of 
the fortress, with that exquisite delicacy of taste which was one of his prominent 
characteristics, so that the grim old walls looked quite gay and picturesque wheij 
the youthful family were assembled beneath their shadow. 

About this time a circumstance occurred, of no great magnitude, perhaps, 
but worthy of record as showing Lieutenant Greble's generosity of disposition, as 
well as his sincere, unostentatious loyalty to the government. An officer, who 
had been his friend and classmate, had resigned his commission, with the view 
of joining the ranks of the rebel army. The lieutenant, hearing of this circum- 
stance, sought his friend, and remonstrated with him with such force and ur- 
gency as to induce a reconsideration. But a difficulty existed. It would be 
necessary for his friend to go immediately to Washington, and perhaps remain 
for some time attending to this business, and he had not the means necessaiy for 
the journey. Lieutenant Greble had himself barely enough for his family ex- 
penses. Nevertheless he determined that want of funds should not ruin his 
friend, and occasion the loss of a skUled officer to the government. He was fond 
of books, of which he had a fine collection ; and he was about to add to their 
number a handsome copy of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica," having already 
ordered the work. But he now countennanded the order, and, putting the sum 
which the work would cost into the hands of his friend, saw him oS with joy on 
his repentant errand. 



JOHN TROUT GREBLE. 113 

The domestic happiness of Lieutenant Greble was soon to be intemipted, 
never to be renewed. In April, 1861, the whole nation, at the call of their patri- 
otic President, sprang suddenly to arms. Large numbers of troops were expected 
at Fortress Monroe, and of course all the quarters would be needed for their ac- 
commodation. Orders were given, therefore, for the women and children to be 
removed. On the 19th of April, Mrs. Greble, with her two little ones and nurse, 
left the fortress for Philadelphia. They arrived at Baltimore in the midst of that 
fearful riot in which the soldiers of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania were fired 
upon by the mob. All means of conveyance northward being cut off, the unpro- 
tected family made their way westward through Maryland and Virginia to Ohio, 
and thence, by way of Pittsburg, finally reached Philadelphia in safety. 

On the 26th of May, Lieutenant Greble was detailed with twenty-two regu- 
lars to proceed to Newport News as master of ordnance, and to instruct the vol- 
unteers, who numbered about three thousand, in artillery practice. An ofiicer 
on General Butler's stafi", in a letter written after Lieutenant Greble's death, gives 
the following account of his conduct at Newport News : 

" I found him with his tent jiitched nearest the enemy, in the most exposed 
position, one of his own selecting, living and sleeping by his gun — the gun which 
he used so faithfully a few hours later. His pleasant, open face, and kind, gentle 
manner, won me from the first We exchanged many little courtesies, and I was 
his guest and the object of his thoughtful and kind attentions. I never met with 
a more high-minded, honorable gentleman. If, in this rebellion, we met with no 
other loss, one such man is enough to render it an execration throughout all 
time. He was intent on robbing war of half its horrors, and was deeply inter- 
ested in and co-operated with me manfully in plans for checking the depredations 
about the camp at Newport News. In this he displayed a firmness and moral 
courage that satisfied one of his manly character, and made a strong unpression 
on the general. He spoke of the possibility, even probability, of his speedy fall, 
with perfect coolness, and seemed entirely prepared to meet all the dangers of 
sustaining the flag. I need not say to you how proud I should have been to 
have stood by his side on that fatal day ; to have seconded his eflbrts ; to have 
aided his friends in bringing ofi" his body, as I am sure he would have brought 
mine." 

The following extract from a letter to his wife, written from Newport News, 
Sunday, June 9th, the very day before his death, shows how calm and serene 
was his mind in the midst of the fearful excitement around him : 

" It is a delightful Sunday morning. It has a Sabbath feeling about it. If 
you had lost the run of the week, such a day as to-day would tell you it was the 
Sabbath. The camp is unusually quiet ; and its stillness is broken by little ex- 
cept the organ-tones of some of the Massachusetts men, who are on the beach, 



114 JOHN TROUT GREBLE. 

singing devotional airs. Last Sabbath the men were in the trenches. To-day is 
their first day of rest. A great deal of work has been done during the past 
week, under unfavorable circumstances — rainy days. "With very little additional 
labor, our whole line of intrenchments wiU be finished. There is a little trim- 
ming off to be done, and a magazine to be built ; a little earth to be thrown up 
in front of some heavy columbiads that have been mounted, and some store- 
houses to be built. But enough has been done to allow the rest to be completed 
by general details, and to give a chance for drilling. Colonel Phelps has ap- 
pointed me ordnance ofiicer of the post. We do not fear an attack ; the position 
is too strong. I hear that Davis has given the federal troops ten days to leave 
the soil of Virginia. The time is nearly up, but we are not quite ready to move 

away I hope that I may be given courage and good judgment enough to 

do well my duty under any circumstances in which I may be placed. As far as 
I can see, there is not much danger to be incurred in this campaign at present. 
Both sides seem to be better inclined to talking than fighting. If talking could 
settle it by giving the supremacy forever to the general government, I think it 
would be better than civil war. But that talking can settle it, I do not believe." 

Little did Lieutenant Greble suppose, while wi-iting this letter, that an expe- 
dition was then planning, to move in a few hours, and that he would be sent 
with it. As ordnance ofiicer of the post, and the only regular artillery ofiicer 
there, he did not expect to be ordered on an expedition, leaving the armament in 
charge of those not qualified to use it if attacked by the enemy. But such was 
the case. An expedition against Great Bethel had been determined on; and, 
although well qualified to take command of it, he was not even made aware of it 
until a few hours before the order was given to march. When informed of the 
plan of attack, he said to a brother-ofiicer : " This is an ill-advised and badly- 
arranged movement. I am afraid that no good will come of it. As for myself, 
I do not think I shall come ofl' the field alive." 

Unwell and at midnight, and with these gloomy forebodings on his mind, he 
did not hesitate, but with the promptitude of a soldier made preparations to obey 
the orders of his superior. The only available guns at Newport News were two 
small six-pounders, and for these he had no means of transportation. He suc- 
ceeded, however, in borrowing two mules to draw one of the pieces, and he de- 
tailed one hundred volunteers to draw the other. With eleven regular artillery- 
men to serve the guns, he started off with the rest of the forces on the expedition 
at night, to attack an enemy of whom no reconnoissance had been made, either 
in regard to their force or position. 

The particulars of this ill-starred expedition are but too well known, and 
need not be repeated here. Lieutenant Greble, being considerably in advance 
of the main body, with one of his guns, heard firing in the rear from the other 



JOHN TROUT GREBLE. 115 

gun, which was in charge of his sergeant. Knowing that there could be no ene- 
my there, he galloped back, and found, as he had suspected, our own forces by a 
fatal mistake firing on each other. He immediately ordered the firing to cease, 
and when he saw the dead and wounded around him, exclaimed that he would 
rather have been shot himself than that such a disaster and disgrace should have 
befallen otxr arms. The result of this fatal error it was easy to conjecture. The 
enemy were notified of the approach of the federal troops, and, hastily retiring 
from Little Bethel, which it was intended to sur^jrise, prepared for a vigorous 
defence of their works at Great Bethel. 

Order being restored, the attacking party again began to move forward. 
Lieutenant Greble returned to his gun, which was in the advance with Duryea's 
Zouaves. As they approached Great Bethel, a concealed battery opened fire 
upon them. Lieutenant Greble immediately unlimbered his guns, and took 
position in the open road, about one hundred and fifty yards from the enemy, 
firing his guns alternately, and moving them forward at each discharge, until he 
was within one hundred yards of their battery. In this firing, he sighted the 
pieces each time himself, remaining as cool as if on parade. So accurate and 
effective was his firing, that he succeeded in silencing all of their guns but one, a 
rifled cannon. The Zouaves, and Bendix's regiment, by whom he was supported, 
were lying close to the ground in the woods, waiting the order to storm the ene- 
my's work ; but no general was to be found, to give the order. Li the other part 
of the field our troops had been repulsed, and were in ftill retreat. It was a 
critical and awful moment. There, in full view of the enemy, and within a hun- 
dred yards of their intrenchments, stood this young artillerist with his two guns 
and but eleven men, keeping the entire hostile force at bay, and by his cool intre- 
pidity and skill preventing a general rush upon the retreating i-anks. For two 
whole hours he kept up his fire, and whenever the enemy attempted a sortie, 
drove them back with a shower of gi-ape. One of his guns, having expended all 
its ammunition but a single discharge of grape, was ordered into the rear ; and 
the volunteers, who were to have been his support, were scattered by the enemy's 
grape and shell, so that he was left with but one gun and five men. Still the 
brave artillerist held his ground. Seeing the battle virtually lost, an of&cer went 
to him and begged him to retreat, or at least to dodge as the others did. His 
reply was characteristic: "I never dodge! When I hear the bugle sound a re- 
treat, I will leave, and not before." Not many minutes after these noble words 
were spoken, as he was standing by his gun, a ball from the rifled cannon before 
mentioned struck him on the right side of the head, when he fell, exclaiming, 
" my God !" and immediately expired. 

Thus ended the earthly career of one of the most promising ofiicers in our 
national service. His death, just at the time when courage, patriotism, and mill- 



116 JOHN TROUT GEEBLE. 

tary skill were most needed, was a public calamity, and was mourned as such. 
During the wliole of the engagement, his conduct was the admiration of all who 
saw him. An officer, who was in a position to observe him, remarked : " He 
kept up during the entire action a galling and successful fire upon the enemy's 
battery ; and, although grape, shell, and solid shot rained all around him, he was 
as quiet and gentle in manner and spu-it as if in a lady's drawing-room." He 
never, under any circumstances, was otherwise. 

Upon the fall of Lieutenant Greble, the guns were abandoned, and the whole 
remaining force retreated. But Lieutenant-Colonel Warren and Captain Wilson, 
rallying a few men, placed the body of the brave young officer on the gun which 
he had served so well, and brought them safely off to Newport News. On reach- 
ing Fortress Monroe, the body was placed in a metallic coffin, which had been 
pi'ocured for the purpose by the officers at the fortress, and was thence sent by 
boat to his friends at Philadelphia. 

The narrative of this fatal battle leaves no doubt that Lieutenant Greble 
deliberately sacrificed his own life to save the lives of a large number of his coun- 
trymen. His practised eye saw at a glance the position of affairs ; he saw our 
forces defeated and in full retreat, and an exultant foe eager to pursue and cut 
them to pieces. Once, indeed, they made the attempt. As soon as he saw them 
outside of their intrenchments, he quickly remarked to an officer of the Zouaves, 
'' Now I have something to fire at ; see how they will scamper !" Deliberately 
aiming his gun at them, loaded with grape, he discharged it full among them. 
So precise was the shot, that they instantly disappeared behind their intrench- 
ments, and were not seen a second time. Had Lieutenant Greble retreated, or 
" dodged," as he was requested to do, the effect would have been to intimidate 
the few troops that remained with him, and to allow the enemy to cut off the 
retreat. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Warren, who was with him in this action, bears the fol- 
lowing testimony to Lieutenant Greble's conduct : "I was near him during much 
of the engagement between the two forces, and can testify to his undaunted 
bravery in the action, and to the skill and success with which his guns were 
served. His efficiency alone prevented our loss from being thrice what it was, 
by preventing the opposing batteries from sweeping the road along which we 
marched ; and the impression which he made on the enemy deterred them from 
pursuing our retreating forces, hours after he had ceased to live." 

In his pocket was found a paper, written apparently after he had started 
on this ill-fated expedition. It was scrawled hastily in pencil, and intended 
for his young wife. It was in these words : " May God bless you, my darling, 
and grant you a happy and peaceful life. May the good Father protect you 
and me, and grant that we may live happily together long lives. God give 



JOHN TROUT GREBLE. 117 

me strength, -wisdom, and courage. If I die, let me die as a brave and honor- 
able man ; let no stain of dishonor hang over me or you. Devotedly and with 
my whole heart, your husband. What a priceless heir-loom must that scrawled 
paper be to the widowed mother and her babes ! A letter, also found in his pos- 
session, ran thus : " It is needless, my son, for me to say to you, be true to the 
stars and stripes. The blood of Eevolutionary patriots runs in your veins, and it 
must all be drawn out before you cease to fight for your country and its laws." 
So wrote a loyal father to a loyal son, not many days before that bloody 10th of 
June. Well might the native city of such a sire and such a son ask as a privi- 
lege that the body of the young hero be laid in state in the Hall of Independence ! 

Lieutenant Greble was buried in the beautiful Woodland cemetery, to which 
place his remains were escorted by the city authorities, the faculty and students 
of the High School, a large body of military and naval officers, and an immense 
concourse of citizens. The character of this young man stands out so clearly in 
his life, that it needs no separate delineation. It was thus beautifully summed 
up on the occasion of his funeral, by his pastor, the Eev. Dr. Brainerd : 

" Few have passed to the grave whose whole life could better bear inspec- 
tion, or who presented fewer defects over which we have need to throw a mantle 
of charity. In his family circle, in the Sunday-school, in the High School where 
he graduated, as a cadet at West Point, and as an officer in the service of his 
country, up to the very hour when he bravely fell, he has exhibited a life marked 
by the purest principles and the most guarded and exemplary deportment. In 
his nature he was modest, rething, gentle, of almost feminine delicacy, careful to 
avoid wounding the feelings of any, and considerate of every obligation to all 
around him. Indeed, such wa^ his amiability, modesty, and delicacy of tem- 
perament, that we might almost have questioned the existence in him of the 
sterner virtues, had not his true and unshrinking courage in the hom* of danger 
stamped him with an heroic manliness. In this view of quahties seemingly anti- 
thetical, we discover that beautiful symmetry in his character which marks him 
as a model man of his class." 

Among the many ofBicial testimonials to the services and the worth of Lieu- 
tenant Greble, none would seem to form a more fitting conclusion to this brief 
memoir than the following : 

" At a meeting of the officers of the army at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, on 
the 11th of June, the following resolutions were adopted relative to the lamented 
death of John T. Greble, late a first-lieutenant of the second regiment United 
States artillery, who was killed in battle at County Creek, near this post, on the 
10th instant : 

" Resolved, That the heroic death of this gallant officer fills us all with admi- 
ration and regret. Standing at his piece, in the open road, in front of the ene- 



118 JOHN TROUT GREBLE. 

my's battery, tiU shot down, he served it with the greatest coolness and most 
undaunted courage. 

" Besolved, That, while deploring his untimely end, and feehng that his loss 
to his country is great, and to his family and friends irreparable, stiLl a death so 
glorious can but tend to hghten the burden of grief to all. 

" Besolved, That, as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, the 
officers of the army stationed at this post wear the usual badge of mourning for 
thirty days. 

^'Besolved, That a copy of the foregoing resolutions be furnished to his 
family. 

"J. DiMiCK, Colonel U. S. A:' 




^^brGeo E Perioe)''^ 



THOl^lAS J. JACKSON- 

"STONEWALL JACKSON: 



THOMAS JONATHAlir JAOKSOIT. 

THOMAS JONATHAN JACKSON, familiarly known as "Stonewall" 
Jackson, was bom in Clarksburgli, Harrison County, Va., January twenty- 
first, 1824. His great-grandfather was an Englisliman by birth, and emigrated to 
the western portion of Virginia. Edward Jackson, grandfather of "Stonewall," 
was surveyor of and represented Lewis County for a time in the Virginia Legisla- 
ture. Jonathan Jackson, father of the General, practised law at Clarksburgh, 
where he married a daughter of Thomas Neal. He became pecuniarily involved, 
and when he died in 1827 left his children — four in number, two sons and two 
daughters — penniless. Thomas was at that time but three years of age, and the 
youngest. He was soon after taken to the house of an uncle in Lewis County, 
where he remained until the age of seventeen. He labored upon the farm in summer 
and attended school in the winter ; there acquiring the rudiments of an English 
education. His orphan condition excited the sympathy of the neighborhood, and 
every assistance was rendered him to carve out his own pathway iu life. As a proof 
of this sympathy he was elected constable of the county of Lewis at the early age 
of sixteen. At the age of seventeen he set out for Washington on foot to obtain 
an appointment as cadet in the United States Military Academy at West-Point, 
in which he succeeded through the influence of some political friends. He entered 
the Academy in 1842, and in July, 1846, at the age of twenty-two, he graduated 
with distinction, was appointed brevet second lieutenant and immediately ordered 
to report for duty in Mexico under General Taylor. In August, 1847, he was 
made First Lieutenant of Artillery ; breveted captain " for gallant and meritorious 
conduct in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco," August, 1848, and brevet- 
ed Major "for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle of Chapultepec," 
March, 1849. His health became so impaired by the climate that he was unable to 
discharge his duties, and, on the conclusion of peace, resigned his commission Feb- 
ruary twenty-ninth, 1852. Upon his return to Virginia, he obtained a professor- 
ship in the Virginia Military Institute, and continued in that position until the 
breaking out of the rebellion. Soon after entering upon his professorship he 
married a daughter of the Eev. Dr. Junkin, Principal of Washington College. This 
lady and her children died, and he svdteequently married Miss Morrison, of North- 
Carolina, by whom he had one daughter, an infant at the time of his death. 
Upon the secession of Virginia he was commissioned Colonel, and proceeded to 



120 THOMAS JONATUAN JACKSON. 

Harpex-'s FeiT}^, there taking command of the small "army of obsei-vation " on the 
third of May, 1861. Upon the approach of his troops Lieutenant Jones, com- 
manding the National forces, evacuated the place, which was immediately occu- 
pied by the Virginia troops. He remained in this position until May twenty- 
third, when General Joseph E. Johnston arrived and took command. He was 
subsequently made Brigadier-General, and upon Johnston's retreat from HaqDer's 
Ferry to Winchester, induced by the advance under General Patterson, acted 
as General Johnston's rear-guard, and fought his first battle of the war at Fall- 
ing Waters in June. It was while in command in the Valley, under Johnston, 
that he organized the First brigade, which at the battle of Manassas or Bull Run, 
gained the sobriquet, from its leader, of " the stonewall brigade." It consisted of the 
Second, Fourth, Fifth, Twenty-seventh, and Thirty-third Virginia regiments, was 
two thousand six hundred and eleven strong, and comprised the flower of the 
young men in the valley of the Shenandoah. Jackson's was the brigade in advance 
of Johnston's reenforcements to Beauregard prior to the battle of Manassas, and jsar- 
ticipated in the engagement of July twenty -first, 1861, first on the left, and, near the 
close of the conflict, in the centre. It is claimed that the charge of this brigade 
pierced the Union centre at two o'clock in the afternoon, and was the initial 
cause of the subsequent rout of the National forces, thus forming the turning-point 
of the contest. General Bee, another brigade commander, at the critical moment 
when the fortunes of the day seemed wavering, and it was feared that all would 
be lost by reason t)f the overpowering reenforcements which were being sent for- 
ward by the Nationals, met General Jackson, and said bitterly : " General, they 
are beating tis back." General Jackson replied, after a moment's pause : " Sir, we 
will give them the bayonet." Bee galloped back to his command, and called out 
to his men, pointing to Jackson : " There is Jackson, standing like a stone wall. 
Let us determine to die here and we will conquer ! Follow me !" The chai-ge 
was made, and, being supported by reenforcements under Kirby Smith, was suc- 
cessful. During this engagement General Jaokson was wounded in the hand. It 
was this remark of General Bee which gave to the brigade and to its commander 
the distinctive appellation of " Stonewall," which it and he ever after bore. 

After the battle of Manassas, General Jackson remained with his brigade' near 
Centreville until the early part of October. In September he was advanced to 
the grade of Major-General, and assigned to the command of the troops in and 
around Winchester, Va. On the fourth of October General Jackson took leave of 
his old brigade, concluding his address with the following language : "In the army 
of the Shenandoah you were the First brigade ! In the army of the Potomac you 
were the First brigade ! In the Second corp^ of the army you are the First bri- 
gade. You are the First brigade in the aTOctions of your General ; and I hope 
by your future deeds and bearing you will be handed down to posterity as the 



THOMAS JO K AT 11 AN JACKSON. 121 

First brigade in this our second war of independence. Farewell !" His brigade 
was returned to him near Kernstown in November. 

January first, 1862, General Jackson sent an expedition to Bath and Romney, 
the Nationals falling back before it. The march was attended with the most severe 
privations ; for the men, deceived by the mildness of the weather on their depart- 
ure, divested themselves of their blankets and overcoats, and were overtaken, 
thus unprovided, by one of the most severe storms of snow and most intense 
cold. Notwithstanding these jDrivations and sufferings, Jackson pushed forward 
and accomplished the object of his movement. He subsecjuently fell back to 
Winchester, and remained comparatively inactive during the winter. Owing to 
a forward movement of the National forces, under General Shields, General Jack- 
son evacuated Winchester March eleventh. He continued his movement up the 
valley until March twenty-second, when, learning that the Union forces had 
evacuated Strasburgh, he rapidly retraced his steps, meeting them at Kernstown, 
two miles south of Winchester, March twenty-fourth. An engagement ensued, 
which was terminated' by the approach of night, and General Jackson failed to 
regain possession of Winchester. He did, however, succeed in preventing a junc- 
tion of General Banks's command with other forces, which is asserted to have been 
his main object. 

After this engagement General Jackson retreated toward Harrisonburgh, 
pursued by the Union army under Banks. With a view of defeating the inten- 
tions of the latter to move upon Staunton, Jackson so disposed of his forces as to 
bring about an engagement with General Milroy at McDowell May eighth, which 
prevented his junction with General Banks, and, it is claimed, defeated the in- 
tentions of the latter as regarded Staunton. May seventeenth, General Jackson 
returned toward Harrisonburgh, and effected a junction with Ewell near New- 
Market. Thence he moved down the valley, fighting at Front Royal on the 
twenty-third and twenty-fourth, and rapidly pui-suing the retreating forces of 
General Banks through Winchester and Bunker Hill to Charlestown and Hall- 
town. The pursuit was here checked, and on the thirty-first General Jackson, in 
consequence of the position of the National forces threatening his line of com- 
niunications, again retraced his steps up the valley. June first. General Jackson's 
outposts were attacked by Fremont near Strasburgh. General Ewell having joined 
him, Jackson continued his retreat in the evening toward Harrisonburgh. On 
the sixth, the battle of Cross-Keys was fought, in which General Ashby was 
killed. He was a most valuable aid to the rebel commander, and his loss was 
sincerely mourned by him. On the ninth, an engagement took place at Port 
Republic ; and on the twelfth, Jackson recrossed South River and encamped 
near Weyer's Cave, where he remained until the seventeenth, when he took up 
his march for a new field of operations — the Chickahominy. 



122 THOMAS JONATHAN JACKSON. 

Thus had the rebel commander swept up and down the Valley of the She- 
nandoah, alternately retreating from before and pursuing the National forces. 
Born in the valley, he was familiar with all its paths. He saw from the first the 
importance that region bore to the success of the rebel cause, and strove his best 
to preserve it fi'om the possession of the Union forces. In a letter dated March 
third, 1862, he expressed his military conviction : "If this valley is lost, Virginia 
is lost." AH his plans were laid with a view to securing this important region. 

On the twenty-fifth of June General Jackson reached the vicinity of Ash- 
land, sixteen miles from Eichmond. General McClellan was then within four 
or Bve miles of Eichmond. Jackson, on the twenty-seventh of June, made the 
attack upon Cold Haij-bor, which was successful in driving in the position of the 
Federal forces. This engagement resulted in a retrograde movement, in which 
the famous " seven days' battles " were fought. Jackson participated in these 
and in the battle at Malvern Hills. Immediately subsequent to this, he was 
made a Lieutenant-General. "When General Pope had advanced as far as the 
Eapidan, and was threatening the rebel depot at Gordbnsville, Jackson was 
despatched to check him, and on the ninth of August the battle of Cedar Eun 
was fought. The rebels remained in position in front of the field of battle until 
the eleventh, when they fell back to Gordonsville. As soon as Lee satisfied him- 
self that General McClellan was evacuating the Peninsula he put his troops in 
motion to attack Pope before he could be reenforced. General Jackson led the 
advance, and the Nationals slowly retired before him. On the twenty-sixth, Jack- 
son reached the vicinity of Manassas, thtis gaining the rear of the Union troops. 
On the twenty-seventh, the battle of Manassas was fought, and the town with all 
its valuable stores was destroyed. General Jackson, having accomplished this, 
fell back slowly to within supporting distance of Longstreet. When he came up 
an engagement ensued which nightfall terminated. The next day the battle 
was resumed, the entire rebel army, under General Lee, engaging the whole 
Union foi'ces. The battle raged the entire day, and at sunset the next day the 
Nationals were in retreat toward Centreville. Jackson pursued, when an engage- 
ment took place at Ox Eun, (Chantilly,) where the gallant Kearny was killed. 
That night the Union army retreated within the defences of "Washington, and fur- 
ther pursuit ceased. 

General Jackson, upon the subsequent invasion of Marjdand, arrived at Lees- 
burgh September fourth, and on the fifth efiected the passage of the Potomac at 
"White's Ford. Thence he pushed on to Frederick City. On the eighth, the 
rebel army having crossed into Maryland, Jackson was despatched to seize Har- 
per's Ferry, recrossed the Potomac on the eleventh, and on the twelfth invested 
the place, which was surrendered on the fifteenth. An engagement took place 
at Boonsboro on the fourteenth, and the battle of Antietam on the seventeentL 



THOMAS JONATHAN JACKSON. 123 

On tlie eigliteenth and nineteenth, the rebel army recrossed the Potomac, and thus 
ended the first invasion of Maryland. The fruits of the surrender at Harper's 
Ferry were looked upon by the Southern leaders as more than counterbalancing 
their losses upon the soil of Maryland. 

The month of October was passed by Jackson's corps in the Valley of the 
Shenandoah ; here it remained until about the first of December, when it was 
summoned to Fredericksburgh. On December eleventh the National army shelled 
the town of Fredericksburgh, and the next day the battle was fought, in which 
Jackson took an active part. After this battle he went into retirement at Moss 
Neck, where he was engaged during the remainder of the winter and the ensuing 
spring in the preparation of his ofiicial despatches. 

At the battle of Chancellorsville, on the second of May, 1863, General Jack- 
son was mortally wounded, the circumstances of which were as follows : He had 
ordered A. P. Hill to advance, and himself had hastened forward to view the 
line of battle. He was in the line of fire from the Federal sharp-shooters, and 
his position was esteemed so dangerous that one of his staff said to him : " Don't 
you think this is the wrong place for you ?" He replied quickly : " The danger 
is all over ; the enemy is routed. Go back and tell Hill to press right on." 
Soon after giving this order Jackson turned and rode back, accompanied by his 
staff and escort. Hill was making his advance in and on each side of the 
road, being prevented from the dense wilderness from moving in line of battle. 
He was instructed to reserve his fire " unless cavalry approached from the direc- 
tion of the enemy." In the darkness, the escort of General Jackson was mistaken 
for Federal cavalry charging, and the regiments on the right and left of the road 
fired a sudden volley into them, killing three and mortally wounding General 
Jackson. The General received a ball in his left arm, below the shoulder-joint, 
shattering the bone and severing the chief artery ; a second passed throiigh the 
same arm between the elbow and the wrist, making its exit through the palm of 
the hand ; a third ball entered the palm of the right hand, about the middle, and 
passing through, broke two of the bones. He fell from his horse and was caught 
by an aid, remarking: "All my wounds are by my own men." The firing was 
responded to by the National troops, who advanced, charging over General 
Jackson's body. He was not recognized however, and the Union troops being 
diiven back in turn, he was resciied. He was borne from the field, leaving strict 
injunctions that the troops should not be told that he was wounded. 

General Jackson remained at Wilderness Eun during the engagement of the 
next day. Amputation was performed, after which he rallied, and in conversa- 
tion said : " If I had not been wounded, or had had one hour more of daylight, I 
would have cut off the enemy fi-om the road to United States Ford ; we would 
have had them entirely surrounded, and they would have been obliged to surren- 



124 THOMAS JONATHAN JACKSON. 

der or cut their way out — they had no other alternative. My troops may some- 
times fail in driving an enemy fi-om a position ; but the enemy always fails to 
drive my men from a position." During the day he received a note from General 
Lee, expressing regrets that he was wounded, and congratulating him upon the 
victory " which is due to your skill and energy." He remained at Wilderness 
Eun until the third, when he was removed to Guinness's Station, where he digd 
on the tenth. His wounds had progressed favorably, but pneumonia supervened, 
caused by a fall from his litter, as he was borne fi'om the held, in consequence of 
one of his bearers having been shot down. 

Just previous to his death he said : "I consider these wounds a blessing ; 
they were given me for some good and wise purpose, and I would not pai't with 
them if I could," Mrs. Jackson was with him in his last moments. She infomied 
him that he was about to die, and his reply was : " Very good, very good ; it is 
all right !" He expressed a wish to be buried in " Lexington, in the Valley of 
Virginia." Among the last words which escaped his lips were, "A. P. Hill, pre- 
pare for action !" His remains were taken to Eichmond where imjjosing funeral 
services were held, after which his body was carried to Lexington for interment. 

The death of Stonewall Jackson was universally mourned throughout the 
Southern States. His loss was felt to be irreparable, and General Lee expressed 
the most poignant sorrow at his demise. At the North, his removal was not made 
the occasion of rejoicing, for even his foes had learned to respect and revere a man 
who had exhibited such indomitable courage and skill in the conduct of the part 
allotted to him. He was considered in the light of one who had thrown his whole 
soul upon an idea, and that idea that his State was in peril, and that he must 
fio-ht to save it. He gave his services in the beginning of the war for his beloved 
State, and shed his life-blood upon her " sacred soil." 

Personally, General Jackson was tall, awkward, and, in his movements, con- 
strained and ungraceful. He was absent-minded ; would pause suddenly and fix 
his eyes upon the gi-ound ; and in riding had a habit of slapping his side and rais- 
ino- his arm aloft. He talked little with strangers, and was brief of speech, but 
never failed to recognize the salute of the humblest person. His military plans 
were alwavs veiled in mystery ; indeed, it is said that he never told them to 
anv one not even to his brigadiers and aids. On one occasion he remarked : 
" Mysteiy, mystery is the secret of success !" General Jackson was an eminently 
devout man, and on all occasions recognized the interj^osition of Providence in his 
successes. He took occasion fi-equently to appoint periods of thanksgiving and 
prayer throughout his army. 

His bravery was never questioned. While in Mexico, a battery of the ene- 
my was pouring a storm of shot and shell down a road along which he wished his 



THOMAS JONATHAN JACKSON. 125 

men to advance. They remained under cover, afraid to venture. Seeing this, 
Jackson advanced to the road and calmly walking ujj and down among the plung- 
ing shot and shell, called out coolly : " Come on — this is nothing ; you see they 
can't hurt me." This coolness on the battle-field did not desert him in after- 
life, and during the war he inspired his troops with the same indomitable courage 
and bravery. All who had ever been under his command would not hesitate to 
follow wherever he led. 

From an early period in the rebellion he had looked upon the invasion of 
the North as one of the surest means of ending the war, and long before General 
Lee invaded Maryland Jackson seems to have formed a similar plan even with the 
handful of troops he then had under his command. It is said that when the Po- 
tomac was finally crossed in August, 1862, General Jackson halted his command 
in the middle of the river and took off his hat while his bands played " Maryland, 
my Maryland." While in that State, on one occasion the ladies crowded around 
him and cut every button from his coat. He remarked : " Ladies, this is the first 
time I was ever surrounded." 

Colonel Ford, a Federal officer who wa^ taken prisoner £it Harper's Ferry, re- 
lates the following anecdote : " An orderly rode up while we were conversing, and 
said to Jackson : ' I am ordered by General McLaws to report to you that McClel- 
lan is within six miles with an immense army.' Jackson asked: 'Has General 
McClellan any baggage-train or drove of cattle ?' The reply was that he had. 
Jackson remarked that he could whip any army that was followed by a drove of 
cattle, alluding to the hungry condition of his men." 

He was exceedingly modest. The publishM-s of a Southern illustrated 
journal wrote to him, requesting his daguerreotype fOr an engraving and some 
notes of his battles for a biographical sketch. He wi'ote in reply that he had no 
picture of himself and had never done any thing. 

General Jackson wore a sun-browned coat of gray cloth, cavalry boots reaching 
to the knee, and his head was covered by a cap much faded, which tilted so far 
over his forehead that he was compelled to raise his chin in the air in order to 
look xinder the rim. His horse was an old raw-boned sorrel, who calmly moved 
about like his master, careless of cannon-ball or bullet in the hottest moments of 
battle. 

In action Jackson was often impetuous. It is stated that at the battle of 
Cedar Eun his command was pressed by superior numbers so that it was forced 
back and the day seemed lost. Galloping to the fi-ont amidst the terrible fire, 
he personally rallied his troops, and by his voice and example induced them to 
re-form. When this was accomplished he gave the order to charge, when, as 
if inspired by his presence, they obeyed and speedily regained the ground they 
had lost. 



126 THOMAS JONATHAN JACKSON. 

General Jackson was a hard student. At "West-Point his lessons were learned 
only after the utmost mental labor, and few there considered him a bright scholar. 
He graduated, however, far above many whose tasks had been more easily learned 
and who it was thought would distance him in the contest for the prize at ex- 
amination. 

"When he was a Professor at the "Virginia Military Institute he was a martinet 
in the performance of his duties, and the pupils were led to regard him as a most 
imreasonable and exacting sticlder for useless military etiquette and ceremony. 
He once continued to wear a thick woolen uniform late in the summer, and when 
asked by the professors why he did so, replied that he had seen an order prescrib- 
ing that di'ess, but none had been exhibited to him directing it to be changed. 




O ''''''''//■'' 



■ i 



MA.I . GEN . U . S . GRANT . 



ULYSSES S. GEAJS-T. 

T lEUTENANT-GENEEAL U. S. GRANT was born at Point Pleasant, 
-LJ Clermont Co., Ohio, April twenty-seventh, 1822. His ancestors were 
Scotch. His early education was obtained at a seminary at Maysville, Kentucky. 
Through the influence of friends he was appointed cadet at the Military Acade- 
my at West-Point in 1839; he being then but seventeen years of age. Pro- 
gressmg steadily in his studies, and graduating with honor, he entered the United 
States ai-my July first, 1843, as brevet second lieutenant of infantry. He was 
assigned to the Foui-th regiment, then on duty in Missouri and the Indian terri- 
tory, remaming there until his regiment was ordered to Texas. At Coitus 
Christi he received his full commission as second lieutenant of the Seventh in- 
fantry, bearing date September thirtieth, 1845. His regiment joined the army 
under General Taylor, and participated in the battles of Palo Alto, May sixth 
and Resaca de la Palma, May ninth, 1846. Grant had, however, been detached 
and rejoined the Fourth regiment the previous November. With this corps he 
participated in the operations of General Taylor along the Eio Grande and in 
the battle of Monterey, September twenty-third, 1846. Previous to the sumnder 
of Vera Cruz, the Fourth regiment was transferred to the command of General 
Scott. Lieutenant Grant took part in the siege of that stronghold and ad- 
vanced with the victorious army to the city of the Montezumas. He was holdino- 
a staff appointment as quartermaster at that time, but was actively eno-a<red in 
the battle of Molino del Key, behaving with such gallantry that he was award- 
ed by Congress the brevet of first lieutenant, which he declined. He subse- 
quently was promoted to the full rank of first lieutenant to date from September 
sixteenth, 1847. At the battle of Chapultepec, September thirteenth, 1847, 
with his command, he joined Captain Horace Brooks, of the Second artillerj^ 
and by a united movement earned a strong field-work, thus completely turning 
the enemy's right. For his conduct on this occasion he received honorable men"^ 
tion m the official dispatches of General Worth, and was rewarded with the brevet 
rank of captain, to date from the battle, which brevet was confirmed dui-in<. Janu- 
ary, 1850. ^ 

After the close of the war with Mexico, Captain Grant was stationed in New- 
York State, with his regiment, which was divided among the forts and defences 
of the northern frontier and Michigan. In 1852, his coii^s was sent to the 



128 ULYSSES S. GRAXT. 

Pacific coast, and tlie battalion to which Captain Grant belonged was stationed 
at Fort Dallas, Oregon. While here he received the full commission of captain, 
dating from August, 1853. On the thirty-first of July, 1854, he resigned his com- 
mission in the army and took up his residence in St. Louis, where he engaged 
in mercantile pursuits until 1859, when he married and removed to Galena, 
111., at which place he united in partnership with his father in the tanning 
business. 

"When the rebellion broke out General Grant offered his services to Gov- 
ernor Yates, of Illinois, who appointed him an aid on his staff, and mustering 
officer of the State volunteers. He retained this position until June fifteenth, 
1861, when desiring active service, he was appointed colonel of the Twenty-first 
Illinois volunteers. This regiment was sent into Missouri, and fonned part of 
General Hurlbut's force, was subsequently stationed at Mexico, Mo., where it 
was incorporated with General Pope's troops, and, during the early part of August 
1861, garrisoned Pilot Knob, and afterward Marble Creek, Mo. August twenty- 
third he was appointed by the President Brigadier-General of volunteers, with 
rank from May seventeenth, 1861. General Grant was then placed in command of 
the post at Cairo, where he was afterwards joined by McClernand's brigade. 
His department then included the Missouri shore of the Mississippi from Cape 
Girardeau to New-Madrid. Kentucky, at this time, was supposed to be neutral, 
and its Governor was anxious that its soil should not be invaded by the troops 
of either combatants. The rebels, however, perceiving the importance of Colum- 
bus in a military view, seized upon that point and gamsoned Belmont opposite. 
General Grant at once determined to occupy Paducah, at the mouth of the Ten- 
nessee Eiver, and successfully accomplished his object on the sixth of Septem- 
ber. In answer to a protest from the Governor of Kentucky, Grant called his 
attention to the occupation of Columbus by the rebels as the provocation for his 
course. He subsequently occupied Smithland at the mouth of the Cumberland 
Eiver, and thus blockaded the entrance to those imjjortant streams, and gained 
valuable bases for future operations. On the seventh of November General Grant 
made a movement wpon Belmont, Mo., for the purpose of dislodging the rebel 
troops who had fortified that position, and was successful. The object having 
been accomplished, he proceeded to withdraw his forces. Large numbers of his 
command, however, were so busily engaged in reaping the spoils of victory, that 
reenforcements of the enemy landed and accelerated the departure to such an ex- 
tent that the closing scenes had the apiDearance of a rout, and as such were con- 
sidered by the Southern leaders. General ' Grant, however, retired safely, and, 
iinder all the circumstances, the battle of Belmont was a victory. 

After Fremont's supersedure by General Halleck, Grant's depai-tment was 
extended, and embraced the southern part of Illinois, that part of Kentucky west 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 129 

of the Cumberland Eiver, and the southern counties of Missouri south of Cape 
Girardeau. Columbus had by this time — December twentieth, 1861 — been great- 
I3' strengthened by the rebels, and was so situated that an attack fi-om the river 
was considered impracticable. The Southern troops were also in force in Central 
Kentucky, occupying Bowling Green as the key of the route to Nashville in 
Tennessee, and held Fort Henry on the Tennessee and Fort Donelson on the 
Cumberland. Grant's plans comprised their dislodgment from Columbus on his 
right and Bowling Green on his left, and with a view to conceal his real destina- 
tion, he first made a reconnoissance in force down the Mississippi to the vicinity 
of Columbiis. Next, with troops under McClernand, he made a movement in a 
south-easterly direction fi-om Cairo. Then concentrating his forces, he moved 
rapidly upon Fort Henry, on the Tennessee, and earned the rebel position, Feb- 
ruary sixth, 1862, capturing General Tilghman and staff and sixty men ; the rest 
of the command having retreated to Fort Donelson. The fleet of gunboats, 
under Flag-OSicer Foote, then passed up the Cumberland Eiver to Fort Donelson, 
while General Grant, with his command, moved across and invested the fort on 
the twelfth of February. The fort was garrisoned by twenty thousand men 
under Pillow, Floj'd, and Buckner. General Grant commenced the attack on the 
morning of the thirteenth, and continued it on the fourteenth and fifteenth, by the 
night of which he had secured all the commanding positions, and, save at one 
point, had comjijletely hemmed the rebel forces in. During the night of the 
fifteenth, the rebel generals held a council of war, when it was determined that 
it was useless to hold out longer' Generals Floyd and Pillow turned the com- 
mand over to Buckner, and the former succeeded in withdrawing his corps 
through the unguarded part, and both rebel leaders made good their escape. On 
the next morning Buckner sent a flag of truce to General Grant, offering to sur- 
render, and asking terms of capitulation. The answer was laconic, and gave the 
victorious General the appellation which he has ever since borne — " Unconditional 
Surrender Grant." He replied : " No terms other than an unconditional surrender 
can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works." Buckner 
was compelled to submit, and immediately surrendered his command, consisting 
of thirteen thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine men, three thousand horses, 
forty-eight field-pieces, seventeen heavy guns, twenty thousand stand of arras, and 
a large quantity of commissary stores. The rebel losses in the siege vere two 
hundred and thirty-one killed and one thousand and seven wounded. The Union 
loss was four hundred and forty-six killed, one thousand seven hundred and 
thii-ty-five wounded, and one- hundred and fifty prisoners. The number of pri- 
soners was increased on the day of surrender by a reenforcement which had been 
sent from the vicinity of Bowling Green. Flag-Ofiicer Foote moved up the river 
immediately after the surrender, and captured Clarksville. General Buell pushed 



130 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

on from the vicinity of Bowling Green, and on the twenty-third captured Nash- 
ville, Tennessee, with his advance under General Nelson. The capture of Fort 
Henry and Fort Donelson not only opened the navigation of the Tennessee and 
Cumberland Rivers, but turned the rebel positions at Columbus and Bowling 
Green, which were almost immediately evacuated. 

For his victory at Fort Donelson, Grant was made Major-General of vol- 
unteers, to date from the day of the surrender. His district was then extended 
and denominated the Department of West-Tennessee. General Grant's plans 
seemed from the outset to have comprehended a theatre of no less magnitude than 
the entire valley of the Mississippi. Doubtless, had he met with the success he 
anticipated in his movement upon Corinth, Miss., he would have soon occupied a 
position in the rear of Vicksburgh which would have placed that stronghold m 
our possession one year at least sooner than it fell. After the capture of Nash- 
ville, Grant retraced his steps to the Cumberland, and forwarded his troops 
on transports to Pittsburgh Landing. Corinth was the objective point, for there 
the rebels had concentrated their forces under one of their ablest generals, A. 
Sidney Johnston, and it was in a military view a position of great strategic 
importance. The rebel general perceived General Grant's object, and, with a view 
to overwhelm him before reenforcements from Nashville could join him, he 
moved his forces out of Corinth to attack him at Pittsburgh Landing. The 
engagement opened on the morning of April sixth, and raged with fearful fury 
untirnight. The Union forces had then been driven from the field to the banks 
of the river, and the protection of the gunboats ; but there they held their posi- 
tion, inspired by the indomitable energy of their commander, and rested on their 
arms for reenforcements. The troops under Buell arrived upon the opposite 
bank of the river shortly after sunset, and immediately crossed the stream. The 
next morning the line of battle was formed, and the rebels were driven from the 
field with the loss of A. Sidney Johnston and fearful slaughter in their ranks. 
The Union army was so exhausted^ however, that but a brief pursuit was made, 
and the rebels retired within their intrenchments at Corinth. The Union losses 
in this engagement were one thousand seven hundred and thirty-five killed, seven 
thousand eight hundred and eighty-two wounded, and four thousand and forty- 
five missing and prisoners; a portion of General Prentiss's brigade having been 
capttired. The rebel losses were stated in the ofiicial report of Beaiiregard, who 
succeeded to the command when General Johnston fell, to be one thousand 
seven hundred and twenty-eight killed, eight thousand and twelve wounded, and 
nine hundred and fifty-nine missing. 

While General Grant's expedition was being transferred to the Tennessee, a 
portion of the navy under Flag-Officer Foote commenced operations, in conjunc- 
tion with General Pope, upon the Mississippi River, at Island No. 10, where the 



ULYSSES S. GRAXT. 131 

rebels had taken position after the evacuation of Columbus, Ky. The bom- 
bardment of this place commenced on the fifteenth of March, and continued, 
with but little interruption, until April seventh, when it surrendered in conse- 
quence of its being flanked by means of a canal which had been constructed by 
the military engineers. After the capture of Island No. 10, Flag-Ofiicer Foote 
proceeded down the river to Fort Pillow, which presented another obstacle to his 
further progress. 

Meantime Grant commenced to reorganize his army, and pushed several im- 
portant reconnoissances to the vicinity of Corinth. General Halleck took the 
field in person about the middle of April, but gave Grant the command of the 
centre, which made him next in rank to himself General Halleck advanced 
upon Corinth by regular siege approaches, and continued his operations until 
May twenty-ninth, when the position was evacuated, it being no longer tenable. 
Fort Pillow was also evacuated on the fifth of June, and on the sixth Flag- 
'Officer Foote, after a grand naval engagement ojjposite Memj^his, received the 
surrender of that city. General Halleck was called to Washington as General-in- 
Chief, on the twenty-second of July, and Grant's command was extended and de- 
nominated the Department of Tennessee. 

The operations during the summer were of but little importance; Grant 
being employed in reorganizing his army. September nineteenth, a portion of 
his forces, under General Eosecrans, attacked Price at luka, Miss., and completely 
routed him. On the third of October, General Grant's position at Corinth was 
attacked by Van Dorn ; but, after three days' fighting, the rebels were compelled 
to retire after losing heavily in killed and wounded. On the thirtieth of Octo- 
ber, they began concentrating their forces at Eipley, Miss., with the intention of 
dislodging Grant, but he, by superior generalship, outmanoeuvred them, and pre- 
pared to move his army westward and southward toward Central Mississij^pi. 
On the ninth of November, his advance occupied La Grange, and on the second 
of December, another portion of his troops, under General Hovey, occupied 
Granada, Miss., where a large quantity of railroad stock was destroyed. Grant's 
intentions respecting a further movement into Central Mississippi were frus- 
trated by circumstances over which he had no control, and his base of opera- 
tions was transferred to Memphis.. His department then included Cairo, Forts 
Henry and Donelson, Northern Mississip^ji and Tennessee, west of the Tennessee 
River. On the twenty-second of December, his army was divided into four corps, 
each under an efficient commander, and each operating independently of the othei', 
but all under the supreme direction of Grant. General Sherman, who commanded 
the right wing of the arm}^, made a movement against Vicksburgh, in the latter 
part of December, in which he was unsuccessful. 

Early in January, 1863, General Grant assumed the principal direction of the 



132 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

operations for tlie capture of Vicksburgh. Admiral Porter cooperated with liis 
fleet, and Colonel, aftei-ward General Grierson, made a brilliant foray in April 
tkrougli Central MississipjDi for the purpose of cutting the railroad communica- 
tion. Siege operations were commenced against Vicksburgh on the twenty -second 
of January, and Grant took the field in person on the fourth of February. The 
bombardment commenced on the eighteenth. Various plans were put in execu- 
tion to accomplish the result desired, among which were the digging of canals to 
connect the waters of the Mississippi with streams tributary to the Yazoo, so that 
Haines's Bluff might be taken by a flank movement, and Vicksburgh be ap- 
proached from the north. These plans failed, however. Admiral Porter during 
the months of March and April succeeded in running several of his gunboats 
past the batteries at Vicksburgh, and, on the thirtieth of April, passed the bat- 
teries at Grand Gulf, below Vicksburgh, with his entire squadron. General 
Grant had, by this time, moved his army to the south of Vicksburgh ; and, on 
the same day, April thirtieth, landed at Bruinsburgh. Thence his march to 
the interior was rapid and brilliant The victories of Grand Gulf, Port Gibson, 
Eaymond, Jackson, Champion Hills, and Big Black Eiver bridge, followed in 
quick succession; the rebels, under Pemberton, retreating fi-om before the vic- 
torious legions into the defences of Vicksburgh, which, on the eighteenth of May, 
were closely invested by General Grant. The remainder of that month and the 
month of June was occupied in prosecuting the siege. On the fourth of July, 
Vicksburgh was unconditionally surrendered to the Union forces; thirty-one 
thousand two hundred and seventy-scA'en prisoners and a large quantity of artil- 
lery being captured. The National losses in the siege were five hundred and 
forty-five killed, three thousand six hundred and eighty-eight wounded, and three 
hundred and three prisoners. General W. T. Sherman was immediately sent in 
pursuit of Joseph E. Johnston, who was in the vicinity of Jackson, and defeated 
him, scattering an army already gi'eatly demoralized and despairing. The fall of 
Vicksburgh accelerated the surrender of Port Hudson to General Banks ; the 
navigation of the Mississippi was almost immediately restored, and the rebel terri- 
tory literally cut in twain. For this victory General Grant was made a Major- 
General in the regular ai-my, to date from July fourth, 1863. Having concluded 
his campaign, he paid a visit to New-Orleans, where he received an ovation from 
the loyal citizens. While on horseback, attending a review, he fell, and was 
seriously injured, but as soon as he was sufficiently recovered he commenced his 
journey northward ; and, by orders of the War Department, reported at Indian- 
apolis. Here he met the Secretary of War, who directed him to assume command 
of the military division of the Mississippi, with plenary powers. His department 
embraced the departments of the Tennessee, Ohio, and the Cumberland, and he 
assumed command on the eighteenth of October. General Eosecrans had incurred 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 133 

tlie censure of tlae War Department in conckicting the battle of Chickamauga 
on the nineteenth and twentieth of September, and had been sijperseded by 
Major-General Thomas. General W. T. Shennan was placed in command of the 
Department of the Tennessee, and was then on his way to Chattanooga, with his 
corps, to reenforce the army there. General Butnside was in command of the 
Department of the Ohio, with his headquarters at Knoxville, Tenn. The posi- 
tion of affairs at Chattanooga was somewhat critical when Grant assumed control 
of his new department. The rebels occupied Lookout Mountain and other posi- 
tions commanding Chattanooga and the communications by the Tennessee River. 
The concentration of large bodies of troops at and in the vicinity of Chattanooga 
demanded that adequate lines of supply should be opened. General Burnside 
was threatened by Longstreet, who had been detached from the main rebel army 
in order to overwhelm the Union forces in East-Tennessee, and all was favorable 
for an aggressive movement on the part of Grant. On the twenty-third, twenty- 
fourth, and twenty-fifth of November, he succeeded, by the battle of Chattanooga, 
in driving the rebels from the commanding positions which they held, and they 
retreated precipitately through and beyond Ringgold, Ga. Reenforcements were 
immediately sent to the relief of General Burnside, who was being besieged at 
Knoxville, and on the twenty-ninth of November, the rebels were compelled to 
raise the siege of that place and retreat in a north-easterly direction on the line 
of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. Thus General Grant, by the victory at 
Chattanooga, not only secured a permanent base of operations at that point, but 
defended East-Tennessee against all assaults by the rebels. The President recog- 
nized the importance of this victory in a letter to General Grant, in which he 
said : " Understanding that your lodgment at Chattanooga and Knoxville is now 
secure, I wish to tender you and all under your command, my more than thanks — 
my profoundest gratitude — for the skill, courage, and perseverance with which 
you and they, over so great difficulties, have effected that important object. God 
bless you all." 

Upon the recommendation of the President, Congress passed a resolution of 
thanks, and voted a medal to General Grant for his great victories, and this reso- 
lution was the first which became a law during the session of the Congress of 
1863 and 1864. On the twenty-sixth of February, 1864, an Act was passed by 
Congress reviving the grade of lieutenant-general, and General Grant was appoint- 
ed to that position by President Lincoln, receiving his commission at Washing- 
ton, March ninth. He has thus obtained the highest honors he as a soldier can 
desire. His name has been brought forward as a candidate for the Presidency, 
an event which does not shake his modesty in the least. When the subject 
was mentioned to him, he remarked that he aspired to only one political office. 
"When the war is over," said he, "I mean to run for mayor of Galena, 111." — his 



134 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

place of residence — " and if elected I shall have the sidewalk between my house 
and the depqt repaired." 

General Grant's personal appearance is very unassuming. On the battle-field 
he wore a huge military coat, a slouching hat, and no insignia of his rank. He is 
an inveterate smoker and is rarely seen without a segar. When Pemberton had 
an interview with him, immediately prior to the capitulation of Vicksburgh, Gen- 
eral Grant went aside with him, seated himself upon a grassy mound, and smoked 
while the details of the surrender were discussed. 

At the close of the first day's engagement at Pittsburgh Landing, General 
Grant, with a view to rally his men, ^ rode along the lines with hat and sword up- 
lifted imjjloring the men to stand but a little while longer, for reenforcements 
were momentarily expected. And it is due in a gi'eat measure to his heroism on 
that occasion that the fortunes of the day were saved. 

General Grant seems to have so planned his campaigns as to insure success. 
It is on record that before he commenced his movement to the south of Vicks- 
burgh, the President was undecided as to the feasibility of his plan. After the 
movement was commenced, the President thought that he should go down the 
river and join General Banks ; and when he turned northward toward the Big 
Black, the President feared it was a mistake. " But," he adds, " 1 now wish to 
mate a-personal acknowledgment that you were right and I was wrong." From 
the moment that General Grant commenced his movement against Forts Henry 
and Donelson up to and including the period of his^ command of the military 
department of the Mississippi — except a brief time when General Halleck was 
in the field before Corinth — he has acted upon plans of his own designing, and 
to him alone is due the credit of achieving the many victories he has won. 

A man who has attained such a high military position will natm-ally have 
some enemies. While he was quietly pursuing his military career he had many 
influential foes who lost no opportunity to malign him. Now they and their 
false charges are all swept away. He was accused of being addicted to intemper- 
ance. This was disproved fully, and the President silenced some of his calum- 
niators, <>u one occasion, by stating that if he knew on what kind of whiskey 
General Grant got intoxicated, he would send a demijohn to each of the generals 
in the field if it would make them win such victories as that at Vicksburgh. 
He exercised the most scrupulous care over his men and lent his official aid to 
protect them against imposition. On one occasion, after the surrender of Vicks- 
burgh, some of his furloughed men were charged exorbitantly for passage up 
the river by steamboat men. The General was very indignant, and remarked : 
"I will teach them, if they need the lesson, that the men who have perilled their 
lives to open the Mississippi Eiver for their benefit cannot be imposed upon with 
impunity." 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 135 

The opposition faction at the North received no sympathy from him. When 
Logan was at home on a furlough, some persons remarked to General Grant, 
that they thought he had been absent too long. He replied : "I extended Gene- 
ral Logan's furlough because, while he is in Illinois fighting copperheads, he is still 
in the field doing his duty." 

On his return up the Mississippi, he responded to an invitation to meet the 
loyal citizens of Memphis, but declined to speak to the toast given in comjjliment 
to him. At a later hour in the evening he appeared upon the balcony of his 
hotel, and modestly thanked the assemblage for the honor they had conferred 
ujjon him. 

General Grant has captured, during his brilliant career, no less than four 
hundred and seventy -two cannon, and over ninety thousand prisoners— more than 
any other two generals in the whole army. The territory which he conquered 
has remained in the possession of the Federal arms, if we except the presence 
occasionally of roving guerrilla bands. The reconstruction of Tennessee, Mis- 
sissippi, and Arkansas will be due to his brilliant military achievements, and 
when Alabama and Georgia fall into line. General Grant can honestly claim a 
great share of the honor of their restoration from the thraldom of the rebel rule. 

Ujjon his promotion, the President assigned to him command of the armies 
of the United States, relieving Halleck as General-in-Chief General Grant se- 
lected the field as his headquarters, and proceeded to reorganize the armies for 
the spring campaign. As this sketch closes, April first, 1864, he is perfecting his 
plans for a vigorous prosecution of the war and the speedy downfall of the re- 
bellion. 



EDWAED D. BAKEE. 

THE death of a soldier in liouorable warfare, on a well-fought field, is an 
event so intimately connected with his calling, that the mind is always more 
or less prepared for the calamity, however sudden may be its approach. Choice has 
made him " seek renown even in the jaws of danger and of death," and chance 
holds the scales in which his fate is weighed. But when one who has gained 
distinction in the peaceful walks of civil life, whose eloquent voice has moved 
multitudes to enthusiasm or to tears, and who has taken the sword from motives 
of patriotism only, is cut off in the midst of fame and usefulness, fighting in the 
ranks of a loyal army, the community receives a shock from whi^ h it does not 
readily recover, refusing for a time to be comforted. Such was the feeling occa- 
sioned by the death of Colonel Baker, who, at the call of a betrayed and threat- 
ened country, forsook his seat in the halls of the national legislature for the field 
of battle, and there "foremost fighting, fell." 

Edward D. Baker, late a Senator of the United States fi-om Oregon, and 
colonel of the first California regiment, was born in London, England, on the 
24th day of February, in the year 1811. His father, Edward Baker, a member 
of the Society of Friends, was a man of education and refinement ; and his moth- 
er's brother, Captain Dickinson, of the royal navy, was one of the heroes of Tra- 
falgar, where he fought under Lord Collingwood. In 1815, the elder Baker 
removed with his family to Philadelphia, whence ten years later he made a fur- 
ther migration to IlHnois, and settling in the pleasant town of Belleville, in St. 
Clair county, established there an academy for boys, on what was then called the 
Lancasterian plan of instruction. Here his son Edward, a handsome and intelli- 
gent boy, received his principal education, giving even then many indications of 
the brilliant talents he was destined to develop in mature life. Not content with 
his prescribed studies, he would devour whatever books came within his reach, 
storing his mind with almost every thing which the wide range of literature em- 
braced. To great industry, energy, and perseverance, he united a memory almost 
superhuman ; and such were his powers of concentration, that the hasty perusal 
of a book would enable him to repeat verbatim whole pages of it. Hence the 
ready and almost inexhaustible fund of varied knowledge which in after-life 
astonished those who knew the circumstances of his childhood, and which con- 

38 




Gi^n^c^^^ 



COL. EDTV:^D D_ BAKER, 

IS' CALIFORNIA VOLUNTEERS. 



EDWARD D. BAKER. 137 

tributed in no slight degree to his success as a public speaker. As an illustration 
of the ambition for public life which even then began to stir him, it is related 
that a friend surprised him one day weeping bitterly over a volume which he 
was perusing, and asked him what book it was that so affected him. " The Con- 
titution of the United States," was the reply. " I find that no foreigner can be 
President, and I am of English birth." 

At the age of eighteen, young Baker removed to Carrollton, in Greene 
county, where he obtained a deputy clerkship in the county court ; and in the 
intervals of his office labors applied himself with diligence to the study of law, 
which he determined to make his profession. Before reaching his majority he 
was admitted to the bar, after a highly creditable examination, and commenced 
practice in Carrollton. Possessing a practical knowledge of the details of his 
profession remarkable in so young a man, he soon showed also powers of oratory 
which placed him high as an advocate, at the very head of the bar in his circuit, 
and gave him a considerable reputation outside the courts of law. 

About 1832-'33, a noted revival took 23lace among the Christians or Camp- 
bellite Baptists in Illinois, under the influence of which Mr. Baker became a 
convert to the doctrines of the sect. Impressed with the belief that his abilities 
as a public speaker ought to be employed in the service of religion, he regularly 
devoted his Sundays, and such other time as he could sj^are from professional 
duties, to preaching ; and in this course he persevered for several years, with high 
reputation as a pulpit orator. 

In 1838, finding Carrollton too limited a field for his forensic powers, Mr. 
Baker removed to Springfield, then recently created the capital of the state, and 
immediately embarked in a lucrative practice. Among the many distinguished 
men with whom he then entered into competition were President Lincoln, the 
late Senator Douglas, Senators Trumbull and McDougal (the latter now of Cali- 
fornia), General Shields, and Colonel Bissell, not one of whom equalled him in 
the ready flow, the brilliancy, or the pathos, of his eloquence. In respect to 
voice, grace of delivery, and the other outward attributes of the orator, he far 
surpassed all of his contemporaries. These qualities suggested him as an aspi- 
rant for political honors ; and in 1844, having previously held a seat in both 
houses of the state legislature, he was elected by the Whigs to represent the 
Springfield district (the only one in the state controlled by that party) in the 
twenty -ninth Congress, which met in the succeeding year. He was rapidly ma- 
king himself known as one of the leaders of that body, when the Mexican "War 
broke out ; and, unable to resist the fascinations of a military career, he obtained 
permission from President Polk to raise a regiment in Illinois for the relief of 
General Taylor. Within two weeks it was recruited, equipped, and on the way 
to New Orleans, being the first one embarked from north of the Ohio. On the 



138 EDWARD D. BAKER. 

Eio Grande lie was dangerously wounded in tlie neck, in repressing a mutiny in 
a Mississippi regiment, and in consequence was unable to participate in the liard- 
fought battles of Monterey and Buena Vista. 

Having resumed his seat in Congress for a few months, Colonel Baker re- 
joined his regiment before Vera Cruz, and marched with the army under Scott 
for Mexico. At Cerro Gordo his regiment, which formed part of the brigade of 
General Shields, took a proininent part in the assault upon the enemy's works ; 
and upon the fall of Shields, severely wounded, Colonel Baker, assuming the 
command of the brigade, led it forward with a gallantry and dash which greatly 
contributed to the success of the day, and elicited the waiTa commendation of 
Generals Scott and Twiggs, and other high officers. 

The term for which his men had enlisted having expired soon afterward, 
Colonel Baker returned home in the summer of 1847, and claimed from his 
friends a renomination to Congress. Being disappointed in this, he removed 
immediately to the Galena district, which for many years had been under the 
control of the Democrats, and taking the stump as a candidate in 1848, con- 
ducted an exciting canvass with a vigor and ability surpassing any of his previ- 
ous efforts. The result was, his election to Congress by a large majority. He 
served through his term, with credit ; but his mind, unsettled by the excitements 
of military life, was revolving schemes of adventure or political power in the 
newly-acquired possessions of the republic on the Pacific coast — the El Dorado 
of the "West, toward which so many were already directing longing eyes. In 
1852, he removed with his family to California, whither his reputation had pre- 
ceded him, and, settling in San Francisco, he at once built up a large practice, 
and by common consent was acknowledged to be the most eloquent speaker in 
the state. The death of Senator Broderick in a duel, under circumstances which 
made it certain that a deep-laid plot had been conceived to murder him for his 
bold denunciations of slavery and the corrupt practices of the administration, 
afforded a memorable instance of the oratorical powers of Colonel Baker ; and 
his address, dehvered over the body of the deceased, aroused in a vast audience, 
collected in the principal square of San Francisco, the wildest emotions of grie£ 
"Never, perhaps," says one who was present on the occasion, "was eloquence 
more thrilling ; never certainly was it better adapted to the temper of its listen- 
ers. The merits of the eulogy divided public encomiums with the virtues of the 
deceased, and the orator became invested with the dead Senator's political for- 
tunes." 

But California was at that time too thoroughly under the control of the 
Democratic party to enable Colonel Baker, who had become associated with the 
Eepublicans, to enter the political arena with any prospect of success ; and in 
1859, having in the previous year been defeated as Eepublican candidate for 



EDWARD D. BAKER. 139 

Congress in the San Francisco district, he removed to Oregon, and was elected 
a United States Senator for the term expiring March 4th, 1865. He also stumped 
the state vigorously for Lincoln in the presidential campaign of that year, and, 
in consequence of divisions among the Democrats, secured the electoral vote of 
Oregon for the Kepublican candidate. His eloquent voice was first heard in the 
Senate-chamber in the eventful session of 1860-'61 ; and his speech in reply to 
Senator Benjamin, of Louisiana, showed the quality of his genius. " Perhaps," 
said Senator Sumner, in his eulogy on Colonel Baker, delivered in the Senate on 
December 10th, 1861, " the argument against the sophism of secession was never 
better arranged and combined, or more simply popularized for the general appre- 
hension. That speech at once passed into the joermanent literature of the coun- 
try, while it gave to its author an assured position in this body." On another 
occasion, he had a parliamentary contest with Senator Breckenridge, not then 
expelled from his seat, " meeting the polished traitor everywhere with weapons 
keener and brighter than his own." 

The outbreak of the Eebellion found Colonel Baker no lukewarm friend of 
the Union. He threw himself, heart and soul, into the contest ; and at the great 
Union mass meeting held in New York after the fall of Fort Sumter, his kindling 
eloquence stirred the multitude like the sound of a trumpet. "It may cost us 
seven thousand five hundred lives to crush this rebellion," he said; "it-may be 
seventy-five thousand lives ; it may be seven hundred and fifty thousand. What 
then ? We have them ! The blood of every loyal citizen of this government is 
dear to me ; my sons and theirs — young men grown up beneath my eye and care 
— are here ; they are all dear to me ; but if the organization, the destiny, the 
renown, the glory, freedom of a constitutional government, the only hope of a 
free peojDle demand it, let them all go !" 

Colonel Baker immediately recruited, chiefly in New York and Philadelphia, 
a regiment of three years' volunteers, which, in grateful remembrance of the state 
where he had passed the last ten years of his life, he called the first California 
regiment. With this he took the field during the summer of 1861, still retaining 
his seat in the Senate, and holding under consideration the offer of a brigadier- 
generalship, and subsequently of a major-generalship, tendered him by the Presi- 
dent ; neither of which he was willing to accept, if it should prove incompatible 
with his legislative functions. 

The autumn found Colonel Baker stationed with his regiment on the upper 
Potomac, near Edwards's Ferry, and within the department commanded by Gen- 
eral Stone. On the 21st of October, in obedience to orders from that officer, he 
led a battalion of his regiment across the river, at Conrad's Ferry, to Ball's Bluff, 
on the Virginia shore, for the purpose of supporting reconnoissances made above 
and below under the general direction of Stone. Here he assumed command of 



140 EDWARD D. BAKER. 

all the national troops, about twenty-one hundred in number, which had effected 
a landing. The butchery of that devoted band, surrounded by an unseen and 
numerous enemy, is more familiar to the public than the causes which brought 
about the catastrophe, and which perhaps will never be known. In the midst 
of imminent danger, Colonel Baker was courageous and collected ; and although 
impressed with a presentiment, which he had expressed on previous occasions, 
that he should meet his death during this campaign, he spared no effort to en- 
courage his men. At length the enemy showed a disposition to leave their cover 
in the woods. Colonel Baker ordered his thinned ranks to charge them, and, 
while cheering on his men, fell pierced by nine bullets. He expired instantly, 
dying as his generous and self-sacrificing spirit could have wished — 

" In some good cause, not his own, 

And like a warrior overthrown 

Whose eyes are dim with glorious tears 
When, soiled with noble dust, he hears 
His country's war-song thrill his ears!" 

His body was recovered, and, after being honored by imposing funeral ceremo- 
nies in Washington and New York, was conveyed to San Francisco for inter- 
ment. The public mourning along the Pacific sea-board, where he was best 
known and appreciated, is a sufficient evidence of the regard he had inspired in 
the hearts of his countrymen. 





•Slg/brAH.SitAic 



GEX0LI\T:R O. HOWARD. 



OLIYEE OTIS HOWARD. 

THE subject of this sketch was born November eighth, 1830, at Leeds, Maine, 
near the Androscoggin Eiver. He graduated at Bowdoin College in 1850 
and four years after at West-Point, where he was fourth in his class, the rebel 
Generals Stuart and Villipigue being numbers thirteen and twenty-two in it 
resijectively. He early entered into the war, resigning his first lieutenancy in 
the regular army and his professorship of mathematics at West-Point in June, 
1861, to become Colonel of the Third Maine volunteers. He was soon in the 
front with his regiment, and did good service at the first battle of Bull Eun, 
where he was Acting Brigadier of the Third brigade of Heintzelman's Third divi- 
sion, and where his brigade took pai't in the obstinate fighting to carry the hill 
between the Stone Bridge and Sudley's Springs, from which the rebel batteries so 
effectively assailed the Union troops who had carried the rebel position at the 
bridge itself. Colonel Howard's name was mentioned with honor in General Mc- 
Dowell's report of the battle. 

Colonel Howard remained in charge of the brigade, on September third, 
1861, received a brigadier's commission, and with his command continued in the 
army of the Potomac until wounded at the battle of Fair Oaks, June first, 1862. 
His brigade was in Eichardson's division of Sumner's corps. When the attack 
was made on Casey's troops on May thirty-first, that corps was on the south 
side of the Chickahominy, six or seven miles to the rear. The corps was ordered 
up in haste, and just at nightfall Howard's brigade came into position. In the 
morning one of his regiments was placed in the front line, while the other three 
formed the second. Eichardson's division bore a large share of that day's fight- 
ing, and French's and Howard's brigades did most of the brave and steady 
work which repulsed and routed the two obstinate, and furious attacks of the 
battle. General Eichardson, in his rejDort, says : " Generals Howard and French 
could not have been excelled in their dispositions of the different forces under 
their command, the direction of their fire, and in the moral effect they produced 
upon their men, and resolute demeanor in cheering and urging them on." In 
this day's battle General Howard received two bullet wounds in his right arm, 
which had to be amputated. Scarcely waiting for his wound to heal, he reported 
again for active service, rejoined the army of the Potomac, and commanded the 
Third brigade of Sedgwick's division in Sumner's corps at the battle of Antietam. 



142 OLIVER OTIS HOWARD. 

General Howard's part in this fiercely contested field was not less creditable than 
at Fair Oaks to him personally, but was less brilliant. Sumner's corps, it will be 
remembered, went into battle in the forenoon of September seventeenth, General 
Sumner taking command in place of General Hooker, who was wounded and dis- 
abled. Sedgwick's division went into the fire in advance, was flanked and irre- 
trievably broken. General Howard took the division upon General Sedgwick's 
removal from the field with three wounds, and labored to rally it, but the fury of 
the rebel fire was too great, and the troops would not form. General Sumner 
himself succeeded no better, and the division was necessarily taken ofl;' the 
ground. 

In the reorganization of the army of the Potomac into three grand divisions, 
after General Burnside's accession to the command in November, 1862, the right 
division was given to General Sumner, and General Couch took the Second corps 
in his place. In the rapid march from Warrenton to Falmouth, which preceded 
the battle of Fredericksburgh, General Couch's corps had the advance, General 
Sedgwick's former di-vision, still under General Howard's command, moving as 
the left of Couch's three columns. 

About the time of this march, a circular from Governor Andrew reached 
General Howard, inquiring about the Massachusetts regiments, and asking sug- 
gestions about them. General Howard's answer, besides a deservedly high com- 
pliment to the three Massachusetts regiments in his command, contained a brief 
recommendation, exhibiting his peculiar direct sense and practical wisdom. It 
was simply that the regiments should be filled and kept full, as their first military 
need ; and that all promotions should be based upon good conduct in the service, 
or, where that will not serve, on seniority. 

On the eleventh of December, 1862, General Howard's division, in the post 
of honor, led the advance of the army of the Potomac over the Eappahannock, 
under an inefEective fire fi-om the rebel batteries. One of his brigades, under 
Colonel Hall, did gallant and valuable service in clearing the streets of Frede- 
ricksburgh, driving out Barksdale'.s Mississippi brigade after a desperate street- 
fight, with a considerable loss in killed and wounded on each side. 

The division bivouacked in the deserted streets of the 'rebel city. During 
the next day the remainder of the army crossed the river, and the third day, 
Saturday, December thirteenth, was that of the defeat. In that tremendous con- 
test General Howard and his division were in the foremost ranks, his troops being 
chosen by the veteran Sumner to support French, who led the first charge upon 
Lee's lines. At ten minutes before twelve French's division charged, and was 
met and driven back by a hot musketry fire from behind strong stone walls 
and breastworks. General Hancock's division went in next, and was in like 
manner repulsed. At three p.m. General Howard's division was sent in in turn, 



OLIVER OTIS HOWARD. 143 

but brigade after brigade was fruitlessly flung against the strong works of the 
rebel army, only to be driven back like their predecessors. The whole division 
was thus used in vain, and all Couch's coi-ps having now been employed and de- 
feated, was withdrawn, Buttcrfield's corps of Hooker's grand division relieving it 
and maintaining our lines. On this day Genei-al Howard's command lost in 
killed, wounded, and missing one thousand men. The remaining six thousand 
were, however, untouched in morale or spirit, and as their General rode along 
their lines on Sunday, when they were momentarily expecting to be ordered into 
the fight again, they received him with cheers loud and long. The battle was 
not renewed, and on Monday night the army recrossed the Rappahannock. 

At the time of the Chancellorsville campaign General Howard's steady sol- 
diership and trustworthiness raised him to the command of the Eleventh corps, 
though he and his troops had not, at the time of the battle, been long enough to- 
gether for a proper acquaintance with each other. The part borne by General 
Howard in the defeat of Chancellorsville was like that in the defeat of Fredericks- 
burgh, very creditable to his own bravery and soldiership. Howard's position on 
the day of the battle was strongly intrenched on its direct fi-ont, looking south. 
An attack was made on this front on Friday evening. May first, 1863, but the 
strength of the works and the commanding positions of General Howard's artillery 
enabled him to repulse them easily. All through that night confused sounds of 
voices, wagons, axe-strokes, and military movements were heard off in the woods 
to the south and west of Howard's line. The only interpretation placed upon 
these sounds seems to have been that the enemy were cutting a road by which to 
escape to Gordonsville past our right front. But this over-confident theory was 
terribly refuted on Saturday. On that day, in the afternoon, the enemy were re* 
ported moving "across the plank-road," that is, on a line across Howard's right 
flank and parallel with a line passing at right angles through the centre of our 
main position from front to rear. General Howard was at nearly the same time 
notified from headquarters that the enemy was in retreat to Gordonsville. Just 
afterward, Sickles, whose corps was well out in the advance to Howard's left, sent 
to him for support, and he at once prepared to move up and join Sickles's right. 
Lastly, at this moment. Hooker sent him orders to send Sickles a brigade. This 
was a suificiently confused and misleading condition of affairs, and was the more 
unfortunate because Hooker's order, which General Howard promptly obeyed, de- 
prived him of his best brigade, and his whole reserve, Bolan's ; the length of his 
line preventing him from keeping back a larger force. He himself took Bolan's 
brigade to its new position, and hurried back to his headquarters at frill gallop, 
arriving five minutes before Jackson's attack. Two cannon-shot and a tremen- 
dous musketry fire announced the attack of the rebels, and before General How- 
ard could ride to the right of his line the furthest brigade, Von Gilsa's, a German 



144 OLIVER OTIS HOWARD. 

one, was totally routed, and he met it pouring back in utter disorder. The next 
brigade caught the j^anic. General Devens, commanding the division, was wounded 
while trying to rally his men. General Schurz's division, posted next, became 
disordered in its turn. The whole position was effectually lost, three stout Ger- 
man regiments only, under Colonel Buschbeck, at the extreme left, standing to 
their colors and fighting it out until completely outflanked. All efforts to rally 
the corps entirely failed. General Hooker ordered uji General Beny's division 
of veterans, who took and held bravely a defensible line some distance to the 
rear, and General Howard quickly rallied a large part of his corps behind Berry, 
and when the rebels made another attack at midnight was able to bring his troops 
up in good order and assist in repulsing them. 

In the new line, to which General Hooker withdrew his forces on Sunday 
morning, the Eleventh corps was given the extreme left, on the Eappahannock, 
where it strongly intrenched itself, and repulsed several attacks during Monday 
and Tuesday. During these two days General Howard was constantly under fire, 
refusing to go out of sight of his front line, and frequently the mark for deliber- 
ate rebel sharp-shooting. While holding this post, he took decisive precautions 
against any unnecessary repetition of Satiu'day's misfortune by posting one of his 
old Fair Oaks regiments, the Sixty-fourth New- York, directly in the rear of 
Gilsa's brigade, with strict orders to shoot down any man who should run back. 
In the night of Tuesday General Hooker recrossed the Rappahannock General 
Howard had again borne a noble and soldierly part in the front of a battle where 
the army was defeated without any fault of his. 

Still remaining in command of the Eleventh corps. General Howard accom- 
panied the army of the Potomac in its marches, during June, 1863, after Lee to- 
ward the field of Gettysburgh, and, as at Eredericksburgh and Chancellorsville, 
was well up in the front. Major-General Eeynolds, with the First corps, was 
first in the advance, and when, 'on July first, he engaged the rebels beyond Get- 
tysburgh, on the Cashtown road, in order to support Buford's cavalry, he sent 
back to Howard, whose corps was next behind, to hasten up. About ten A.M. 
General Reynolds fell mortally wounded, and the command, after devolving for 
an hour and a half on General Doubleday, was assumed by General Howard, who 
]'eached the field at half-past eleven, and maintained the battle with the First and 
Eleventh corps until four P.M., when the accumulating rebel force outflanked him 
and made it necessary to fall back through Gettysburgh to the Cemetery Hill 
south of the town. General Hancock now coming up and taking command with 
General Howard, posted the troops so strongly in this very defensible position 
that no further attack was made that day. The brave fighting of the Eleventh 
corps during this day relieved it from the unpleasant imputations which had 
lain against it since its defeat at Chancellors\'ille. General Howard's own charac- 



OLIVER OTIS HOWARD. 145 

teristic traits of steady and ready bravery and prudence were also once more 
conspicuous in the resolute manner in which he held his position beyond Gettys- 
burgh ujD to the latest possible moment, and in the coolness, foresight, and skill 
with which he first fixed on the key -point of the Cemetery, and at the proper time 
witliclrew fighting, occupied his new position and held it against all comers. On 
the next day, the second, at eight p.m., the Eleventh corps again repulsed a des- 
perate assault upon its position at Cemetery Hill, inflicting immense loss, and its 
fighting was brave and effective throughout the whole battle. 

When Eosecrans was superseded by Grant, General Howard and his corjjs 
were sent, as tried and proved soldiers, to reenforce the army of the Cumberland, 
and have since formed part of General Hooker's command. After midnight, on 
the night of October twenty-eighth. General Howard's corps, then encamped 
under the west slope of Lookout Mountain, repulsed a fierce night attack b}' 
Longstreet's corps. In this fight three regiments of the Eleventh corps (Sev- 
enty-third Ohio, Thirty-third Massachusetts, and One Hundred and Thirty-sixth 
New- York) charged, routed, and drove from their works the whole of McLaws's 
brigade of two thousand men, making forty prisoners. The brilliant manoeuvre 
of which this attack was part resulted in the substantial opening of the water com- 
munication of the Tennessee to General Grant's army. In the sharp affair of 
November twenty-third, which gave us the key position of Orchard Knob, in 
front of Chattanooga, the Eleventh corps was in reserve. On the twenty-sixth, it 
was operating along with Sherman against Bragg's right, not effecting any direct 
advantage, but drawing the rebel troops that way and leaving their centre weak- 
ened for the wondei-fiil charge up the Missionary Ridge, which gave us the 
Eidge, the position, and the victory. 

A cool exploit of the General here deserves recording. At the time of the 
repulse of Longstreet west of Lookout, General Howard, in moving across the 
field with a small cavalry escort, came suddenly upon a body of rebel infantry, 
answered theii- hail with 'AH right !" ordered them to approach, and then so 
sternly and peremptorily ordered them to suiTcnder that they promptly did so. 

Since the brilliant victory of Chattanooga General Howard and his faithful 
and veteran corps have remained with the army of the Cumberland, under the 
immediate command of General Hooker, participating in its various operations ; 
but these have not, so far, been of a nature to furnish any further history of im- 
portance. 

In closing this sketch, it should be added that General Howard, beside his 
professional abilities as a soldier, is of singularly pure and upright private charac- 
ter, and a professed and consistent Christian. 



SALMON P. CHASE. 

NO public man of the day, the President alone excepted, holds so prominent 
a position as the present head of the Treasury Department. Occupying a 
post always one of the most important under our system of government — though 
popularly accounted less honorable than the Premiership — the present war has 
multiplied a thousand-fold the powers and responsibilities of the place, making it 
palpable that, while military affairs might stumble yet afterward recover ground, 
upon the successful management of the finances hinged not the war only, but the 
very existence of the body politic. Hence Mr. Chase has been constantly in the 
public eye, and his policy has been the object of attention for all classes. 
Though his public life does not extend through so many years as some, his 
services have been such as to make his name familiar to his countrymen. Like 
many of those who have achieved eminence in the West, he is of New-England 
stock and birth, having been born in the little town of Cornish, New-Hampshire, 
on the thirteenth of January, 1808. When he had reached his seventh year, his 
father removed to Keene, in the same State, where he died two years later. At 
twelve years of age young Chase was sent to Worthington, Ohio, to be educated 
in the care of his uncle Philander, who was at that time Bishop of the State. His 
uncle having accepted the presidency of Cincinnati College, he entered that insti- 
tution, but at the end of a year he returned to his former home in New-Hamp- 
shire. In 1824 he entered the Junior class of Dartmouth College, fi'om which he 
graduated in 1826. . In the fall of that year he left his blind mother and his home 
at Keene, at eighteen years of age, to make his first essay at practical life, fi-iend- 
less and poor, with only the capital of courage and his recent education. He 
made his way to Washington, provided with a few letters of introduction, and ad- 
vertised in the National Intelligencer for pupils, intending to open a select private 
school. Not finding pupils, he applied to his uncle Dudley Chase, then a Senator 
from Vermont, for assistance in gaining a clerkship in the Treasury Department, 
but his uncle refused to aid him in that respect, and at length, after several 
months of idleness, he received from a Mr. Plumley the ofler of the transfer to 
him of a flourishing boys' school. Accepting this, the success of his first attempt 
in life was established, and three years after (1829) he was admitted to the bar of 
the District of Columbia, having read law, while teaching in the interim, with 




llou. SALMON r. CHASE 



SALMON P. CHASE. 147 

Hon. William Wirt, whose son was among Lis pupils. In the spring of 1830 he 
returned to Cincinnati, where he has since resided. His practice as a lawyer soon 
became extensive and valuable, and almost at the outset of his professional career 
he entered upon the course of consistent and earnest anti-slavery action which 
made his name widely known. In 1834, he became counsellor of the United 
States Bank at Cincinnati. In 1837, he acted as counsel for a woman claimed to 
be a fiigitive slave, arguing that Congress possessed no constitutional right to 
confer upon State magistrates any authority in such cases, and that the act of 
1793 concerning fugitives was unwaiTanted by the Constitution, and hence void. 
In the same year, in defending James Gr. Birney, who was arraigned before the 
Supreme Court of Ohio, under State law, for harboring a fugitive slave, he an- 
nounced the doctrine which has been commonly held since by the opponents of 
slavery of all grades in the North, that slavery is essentially local and restricted in 
its character, and that a slave brought into a free State by the consent of his mas- 
ter cannot be reclaimed by force. In 1838 and 1846, associated with Mr. Seward 
as defendant's counsel in the famous Van Zandt case, before the United States 
Supreme Court, he argued the same doctrines more elaborately, maintaining that 
the clear understanding of the framers of the Government was that slavery was 
only local ; that by the ordinance of 1787 no fugitive could be reclaimed from 
Ohio unless such fugitive had escaped from one of the original States ; and that, 
furthermore, the clause in the Constitution relative to persons held to service or 
labor was one of compact between the States, and gave to Congress no power of 
legislation whatever, inasmuch as it had been transferred from the ordinance of 
1787, where it conferred no such power on the Confedei'ation, and was never held 
to confer any. 

These and other cases gave Mr. Chase a national reputation, both as a lawyer 
and an anti-slavery man, and a minute history of his life would be almost a histo- 
ry of the anti-slavery struggle of that period. Shortly after, he began to appear 
in a wider field, and in 1841 united in a call for an anti-slavery convention, which 
met at Columbus, Ohio, in December of that year, organizing what was known as 
the Liberty Party gf the State, nominating candidates for office, and issuing an 
address which was written by him. In 1843, he was a member of the National 
Liberty Convention, held at Buffalo, and was prominent in its proceedings, al- 
though dissenting from a resolution passed to treat the clause in the Constitution 
relative to fugitives as null and void. In 1845, he projected a larger Liberty Con- 
vention, which was held at Cincinnati in June. He prepared the addi-ess, which 
gave a historical sketch of slavery in the country, and argued for the necessity of 
a separate political party to resist its encroachments. In a second convention, 
two years later, he opposed any general nomination, believing that the agitation 
concerning the Wilmot Proviso would cause a more general movement in the 



148 SALMON p. CHASE. 

anti-slavery direction. The following year lie prepared a call for a free-territory 
State Convention at Columbus, wliich culminated in the calling of a National one, 
to meet at Buffalo in August. At this Convention, which nominated Martin Van 
Buren for President, Mr. Chase was a member of the Committee on Resolutions, 
and the resolutions finally adopted, known as the Buffalo platform, were mainly 
his work. 

In politics, Mr. Chase first acted with the Democrats, yet supporting General 
Harrison in 1840, and with the avowed intention of deserting the party whenever 
it should fall from its anti-slavery position. Later, he was a prominent member 
of the Free Democratic or Free Soil party, and after 1854 joined the Eepublican 
organization formed at that time. His formal entrance to political life was in 
1849, when — on February twenty-second — he was chosen United States Senator, 
receiving the entire vote of the Democrats and of the Free-Soil wing. His formal 
withdrawal fi-om the Democratic party was in 1852, in consequence of the ap- 
proval of the compromises of 1850 by the Democratic Convention of that year, at 
which time he addressed a letter to Mr. B. F. Butler, of New-York, in &vor of an 
independent Democratic party. 

In the Senate he continued his persistent hostility to slavery. On the twen- 
ty-sixth and twenty -seventh of March, 1850, he made a speech in opposition to the 
carefully prepared compromise resolutions of Mr. Clay. He moved an amend- 
ment to the bill to organize New-Mexico and Utah, prohibiting slavery therein, 
but it failed by a vote of twenty to twenty-five. He also unsuccessfully proposed 
an amendment to the Fugitive Slave Bill, secui-ing trial by jury, and another 
which excluded from the operation of the bill persons escaping from States to 
Territories, and vice versa. In 1854, he drafted an appeal to the people against 
the Nebraska Bill, which was signed by members of Congress, and on February 
third he made the first elaborate speech in opposition to the measure. An amend- 
ment of Mr. Douglas, declaring the Missouri restriction inoperative and void, be- 
ing under consideration, Mr. Chase moved to strike out the words that the re- 
striction " was superseded by the principles of the legislation of 1850, commonly 
called the compromise measures." This was lost by a vote of thirteen to thirty. 
His next amendment proposed to add to the words, in section fourteen of the bill, 
'■'subject only to the Constitution of the United States," the following, "Under 
which the people of the territory, through their appropriate representatives, may, 
if they see fit, prohibit the existence of slavery therein ;" but this also was lost 
by ten to tliirty-six. His third amendment, defeated by ten to thirty, pro- 
posed the appointment of three commissioners, residing in the territory, to organ- 
ize it and divide it into election districts, allowing the people to choose their 
own Governor and Legislature. 

In July, 1855, Mr. Chase was nominated by the anti-slavery men for Gov- 



SALMON P. CHASE. 149 

ernor of Oliio, and elected iu the fall. During 1857, he succeeded in saving the 
State from pecuniary loss and the greater loss of its credit by the default of the 
Treasurer, in whose accounts a deficit of over five hundred thousand dollars had 
been discovered. The new administration of the State Government was conduct- 
ed with singular prudence and success ; and in 1857 Governor Chase was re- 
elected by the largest majority ever given in Ohio. In 1859, he was succeeded by 
Governor Dennison. 

Eeceiving the Treasury Department from the hands of General Dix, his im- 
mediate predecessor, in March, 1861, he found the National finances hardly re- 
vived from the exhaustion and paralysis in which they were left by Secretary 
Howell Cobb. The task imposed upon him was gigantic, and failure in it would 
have ruined all at the outset. The funds at his disposal were scanty enough, and 
the credit of the Government was nominal abroad and at the lowest ebb at home ; 
the depleted Treasury must be immediately replenished to meet the calls of what 
was plainly to be the most costly war in all history, and it was fortunate for the 
country that Mr. Chase's name possessed the popular favor. Meeting the direct- 
ing parties of the principal banks in person, he was able to effect fi-om them a 
temporary and timely relief The history of his financial administration is too 
recent to require recapitulation here, but it was plain that a resort to loans and 
the issuing of Government paper was not a matter of choice at the time. The 
ability and success with which Mr. Chase has wielded his affairs is everywhere 
conceded ; his most determined opponents find no fault with his system in itself, 
but only in his continued adherence to it. The point of difference between them , 
and his adherents is concerning the limit and the time to which the plan of paper 
issues should be carried. 

Mr. Chase is a man of personal attraction, and has the power of winning 
friends and avoiding the making of enemies. Being now in his fifty-ninth year, 
his active political life is nearly closed, in human probability ; but, although he 
he has held office for a smaller term of years than many others, he has always 
been in one sense a public man, and has won the position of one of the foremost 
men of the time. Until recently his distinction was that of an anti-slavery leader, 
at a period when the popular mind was very impatient of anti-slavery agitation. 
Hazarding success for his adherence to this principle, he still adheres to it, yet 
carefully avoiding any alliance with the so-called Abolition party, as when he op- 
posed a resolution declaring the clause relative to fugitives null and void ; and in 
the Senate he joined the small minority of the anti-slavery part. As with the 
leaders of the Southern interest in Congress, he made the principle for which he 
stood superior to his party, and deserted his party for it. He won new honor in 
each office he assumed, yet his chief distinction is in his administration of the 
National finances. The record of this will be the record of the crowning position 
in his useful public life. 



JOHTT POPE. 

JOHN POPE was born in the state of Kentucky, Marcli 12th, 1823. His 
father, Governor Nathaniel Pope, of Virginia, emigrated to Kentucky in the 
early part of the present century, and, during the infancy of his son, removed 
with his family to Kaskaskia, Illinois. He was a delegate to Congress from 
Illinois before its organization as a state, and was subsequently for many years 
United States district judge, an office which he filled with eminent ability and 
fidelity. After receiving a careful preliminary education, young Pope was ad- 
mitted in 1838 a cadet in the West Point military academy, where he was grad- 
uated in 1842, standing high in a class which numbered among its members 
Generals Eosecrans and Doubleday of the Union army, and the rebel Generals 
Gustavus W. Smith, Lovell, Longstreet, Van Dorn, and others. In July of the 
same year he was commissioned brevet second-lieutenant in the corps of topo- 
graphical engineers. Upon the breaking out of the war with Mexico, he was 
attached to the army under General Taylor, and for " gallant and meritorious" 
conduct at the battle of Monterey was breveted a first-lieutenant, his commission 
bearing date September 23d, 1846. For " highly gallant and meritorious con- 
duct" on the hard-fought field of Buena Vista he was breveted a captain, his 
commission being dated Februaiy 23d, 1847 ; and at the conclusion of the war, 
the state of Hlinois testified its sense of the importance of his services by pre- 
senting him with a sword. 

Thenceforth for many years Captain Pope was chiefly employed, in common 
with other officers of engineers, on the surveying and exploring expeditions which 
have opened to travel and emigration the vast and comparatively unknown re- 
gions lying between the valley of the Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean. In 
1849, he conducted an expedition into the noiihern portions of Minnesota, and 
demonstrated the practicability of navigating the Eed Eiver of the' North with 
steamers, for which service he received a vote of thanks from the territorial 
legislature. 

After several years' service in New Mexico, Captain Pope was, in 1853, ap- 
pointed to command one of the six expeditions organized by the war department, 
under an act of Congress, to ascertain the rr ost practicable route for a railroad 
from the Mississippi to the Pacific, and was du-ected to explore the thirty-second 




MA.T i.FV iriHX PnPE T- S A. 



JOHN POPE. 151 

parallel from Eed River to the Rio Grande. His survey, completed in the sum- 
mer of 1854, was stated by Jefferson Davis, then secretary of war, to have been 
" creditably performed under the most disadvantageous circumstances." In con- 
nection with this enterprise he explored, in 1855-56, the Llano Mtacado, or 
Staked Plain, in Texas and New Mexico, and made some experiments in Arte- 
sian-well boring, with a view to determine the feasibility of obtaining a supply 
of water for railroad or other purposes. In July, 1856, he was advanced to the 
full rank of captain, and during the next three years his time was principally 
occupied with engineering duties in the "Western military department. 

Obtaining a leave of absence for the year 1860, Captain Pope entered zeal- 
ously into the presidential canvass, and was a warm supporter of Mr. Lincoln. 
When the clouds of civil war began to gather on the horizon, he was not back- 
ward to proclaim the necessity of vigorous measures on the part of the govern- 
ment to maintain the integrity of the Union ; expressing opinions which, if 
contrary to the etiquette of the service, as understood by some members of his 
profession, were nevertheless eminently patriotic, and, amid the positive defection 
of many of the regular army officers and the apjDarent lukewarmness of others, 
were gratefully received by the people of the loyal states. For some severe stric- 
tures on the temporizing policy of President Buchanan, to which he gave utter- 
ance in a lecture on fortifications, delivered in Cincinnati, in February, 1861, he 
was court-martialled by order of the President ; but by the advice of Mr. Holt, 
secretary of war, the matter was dropped, the government having matters of 
graver import to occupy its attention. Captain Pope accordingly resumed his 
command in the engineer corps, and was one of the officers detailed by the war 
department to escort President Lincoln to Washington. 

On May 3d, 1861, the President issued a call for forty-two thousand volun- 
teers to serve for three years or the war ; and on the 17th of the month. Captain 
Pope was commissioned a brigadier-general in that force, and appointed to a 
command in Northern Missouri, then swarming with secession sympathizers, 
who, at the instigation of the traitor governor, Jackson, were obstructing railroad 
travel, and committing depredations on private property. On July 19th, he 
issued a proclamation to the people of North Missouri, warning them against 
unlawful combinations, and during the next few weeks prosecuted a vigorous 
war against bridge-burners and guerillas, who soon discovered that General 
Pope's department was no place for their operations. After the arrival of Gen- 
eral Halleck at St. Louis, in November, as commander-in-chief of the Western 
department, General Pope was detailed to active duty in Central Missouri ; and 
on December 13th, in co-operation with General Jefferson C. Davis, he surprised 
and captured at Blackwater nearly two thousand rebel recruits for Price's army. 
Then, marching rapidly upon Shawnee Mound, he succeeded in the brief space 



152 JOHN POPE. 

of ten days in driving the rebel forces completely out of tliat part of the country. 
These services, widely and gratefally acknowledged by the public, suggested 
him to General Halleck as a competent officer to command the army of the Mis- 
sissippi, destined to co-operate, with the opening of the spring, in the general 
movement of the "Western troops against the enemy. 

On the 23d of February, 1862, General Pope assumed command of a well- 
appointed army at Commerce, Missouri, and a few days later marched upon New 
Madrid, where a force of ten thousand rebels, under General Jefferson Thompson, 
was intrenched in a strong position, defended by many heavy guns, and covered 
by a fleet of gunboats. During a delay occasioned by the failure to receive his 
siege-guns from Cairo, he dispatched a portion of his force to Point Pleasant, 
twelve miles below New Madrid, thus establishing an efficient blockade of the 
Mississippi, and preventing the arrival of supplies to the rebels from below. At 
sunset, on the 12th of March, the siege-guns arrived; on the same night they 
were placed in battery, within eight hundred yards of the enemy's main work ; 
and at daylight, on the 13th, a heavy fire was opened. The enemy withstood 
the attack during the day, but on the night of the 13th precipitately abandoned 
their works, and took refuge on the other side of the river, leaving upward of 
sixty guns, several thousand small-arms, and equipments, stores, and munitions, 
of the value of nearly a million of dollars. 

The rebels, however, still occupied Island Number Ten, commanding the 
river above New Madrid ; and General Pope, being without the means of trans- 
porting his troops to the Kentucky shore, could not immediately pursue his 
advantage. On the 17th, Flag-Officer Foote, with his flotilla of gunboats and 
mortar-boats, opened fire upon Island Number Ten from above ; but the work 
proving of far greater strength than he had anticipated, it became evident that, 
without the assistance of a land-force, operating on the other side of the river, the 
siege might be protracted for months. But General Pope had no transports, to 
cross the river below the island ; and the inundated state of the country rendered 
it difficult, if not impossible, to march his troops to the vicinity of the flotilla. 
Availing himself, in this emergency, of the suggestion of General Schuyler Ham- 
ilton, one of his generals of division, he ordered a canal twelve miles long to be 
cut across the neck of land formed by a bend in the river opposite the island, 
with a view of floating transports down it to his assistance. The work was com- 
pleted within three weeks, and on the 7th of April a number of transports and 
gunboats passed through. The embarkation of troops at New Madrid was com- 
menced on the same day, and on the evening of the 9th nine thousand Union 
soldiers were landed on the Kentucky shore. The enemy at once surrendered 
their costly works on Island Number Ten, with an immense amount of material 
of war ; and Pope, pushing on a division, under General Paine, to Tiptonville, . 



JOHN POPE. 153 

succeeded in capturing upward of five thousand retreating rebels, including three 
generals, seven colonels, and several hundred inferior oilicers, together with an 
immense amount of spoils. For these successes he was promoted to be a major- 
general, his commission dating from March 21st. 

Flushed with victory, and with the applause of the country ringing in his 
ears. General Pope proceeded down the Mississippi, to attack Fort Pillow, but 
was arrested in his course by an order from General Halleck, directing him to 
repair with his troops to Pittsburg Landing. Within five days after receiving 
the order, his entire force was at Hamburg, four miles from Pittsburg, occupying 
a position on the extreme left of the Union line. He received the command of 
one of the three grand divisions into which General Halleck divided his army, 
and showed characteristic activity in the sharp actions which preceded the with- 
drawal of the enemy into his defensive works at Corinth ; succeeding on one 
occasion, by a brilliant piece of strategy, in capturing a considerable number of 
prisoners. After the evacuation of Corinth, on May 80th, he pursued the retreat- 
ing army under General Beauregard down the Mobile railroad, securing many 
prisoners and large quantities of munitions ; and while engaged in this duty, he 
was summoned by the President to Washington, and appointed to the command 
of the " army of Virginia," comprising the combined corps of Generals Fremont, 
Banks, and McDowell, then stationed along the Potomac, and in front of Wash- 
ington. These officers were all his seniors in rank, but, in the opinion of the 
President, the exigencies of the service demanded that he should be placed over 
them. 

Before General Pope could commence the organization of his command, the 
series of reverses before Eichmond, consequent upon General McClellan's trans- 
ferring his base of operations to the James Eiver, brought dismay to the govern- 
ment and people, and rendered necessaiy an entire change in the plans of the 
campaign. On the 14th of July, the new general issued an address to his troops, 
breathing the most ardent spirit of enterprise ; and on the 29th — the President 
having in the mean time decided to remove the army of McClellan from the pen- 
insula — he took the field in person, establishing his head-quarters at Warrenton, 
Virginia. As the readiest means of diverting the attention of the enemy from 
McClellan, Pope was ordered to make a demonstration in force upon Eichmond ; 
and immediately a forward movement, which had been preceded by several dash- 
ing cavalry reconnoissances, was commenced by his whole army. Eeconnoitring 
parties crossed the Eapidan Eiver, and pushed forward to Orange Court-House 
and other points ; and on August 9th, the corps of General Banks fought a well- 
contested battle with the rebels under Jackson at Cedar Mountain. The latter 
fell back on the 11th, and Pope immediately brought his whole force up to the 
line of the Eapidan. Under cover of these movements, the army of McClellan 



5^54 JOHN POPE. 

evacuated its position at Harrison's Landing on the 14tli and loth, witliout mo- 
lestation, and the enemy at once prepared to fall upon and crush Pope before 
reinforcements could reach him. 

On the 17th and 18th, Pope withdrew his whole army behind the Rappa- 
hannock, and, being in too feeble force to defend that line, subsequently fell back 
as far as Warrenton, in the expectation that a portion of McClellan's troops would 
meet him there, or be within supporting distance. A rebel corps under Jackson 
meanwhUe made a flank movement on Pope's right, and, passing through Thor- 
oughfare Gap, took possession of the old defensive works at Manassas, which 
Pope supposed had been occupied, in accordance with his oi'ders, by two divisions 
of McClellan's army. The contrary proving to be the case, Pope marched rapidly 
in three columns toward Manassas ; and on the 28th, 29th, and 80th, a series of 
desperate battles was fought, resulting in the discomfiture of the federal forces, 
who retired across Bull Eun to the strong position of Centreville. The advan- 
tage on the 28th and 29th rested with the federal troops ; and General Pope has 
asserted, in his ofS&cial dispatch, that if General FitzJohn Porter had attacked 
the enemy in flank on the latter day, as he had been ordered to do, Jackson 
would have been utterly routed befoi-e the rebel reinforcements under Lee could 
reach him. On the evening of that day the junction of the enemy's forces was 
efiectcd, and the defeat of Pope, confronted on the 80th by superior numbers, was 
the consequence. The army subsequently retired in good order to Washington ; 
and on September 8d, General Pope was at his own request relieved of his com- 
mand — having first, in a well-written dispatch, stated what he claimed to have 
been the obstacles to his success. He also preferred charges of insubordination 
against three of McClellan's generals, and demanded a coui-t of inquiry, which 
was granted. At the special request of General McClellan, proceedings were 
stayed ; and the public are accordingly for the present unable to form a correct 
judgment with regard to the facts connected with the late battles before Wash- 
ington, and the motives of the principal actors in them. 

General Pope was immediately assigned to the command of the department 
of the North-west, where he is novr engaged in protecting the inhabitants from 
threatened attacks of the Indian tribes. 




ALEXANDER H, STEPHENS. 



ALEXAI^DER H. STEPHEll^S. 

ALTHOUGH the position held by Mr. Stephens in the present rebellion is 
but nominal, yet, taking into view the whole of the more than thirty years' 
war which preceded it, he will hereafter be named in connection with Calhoun, 
of whom he was a faithful follower. For some years he has been in private life, 
yet he has always been one of the most efficient and sagacious of the rej)resenta- 
tives of the Southern policy, and his influence was powerfully though secretly felt 
in bringing about the issue of the struggle. 

He was born in Taliaferro County, Georgia, February eleventh, 1812, and 
graduated at Franklin College, Athens, Georgia, in 1832. Choosing and study- 
ing the law, he was admitted to the bar in 1834, and soon obtained a lucrative 
practice in the town of Crawfordsville, in his native county. In 1836, he was 
sent to the Georgia House of Eepresentatives, where he exerted himself in secur- 
ing legislative aid for certain internal improvements ; and such was his popularity 
that he was reelected for five successive terms. In 1839, he went as a delegate to 
the Southern Commercial Convention, held at Charleston, in which he took a 
prominent part in the quarrel which then existed between Georgia and South- 
Carolina relative to a real or supposed conflict between the interests of these two 
States. Three years after, (1842,) he was chosen State Senator, and while acting 
in that capacity he was a zealous supporter and member of the Whig party, as he 
continued to be until the close of the Nebraska struggle of 1854. In 1843, he 
was nominated for Congress, and although his district was Democratic and his 
party had previously been in a minority of two thousand, his personal strength 
with the people gave him the election by more than three thousand majority, and 
his faithfulness to his section and the popular appreciation of his ability are at- 
tested by the fact that he held his seat as representative in Congress until his vol- 
untary retirement in 1859. 

He was a supj^orter of Henry Clay in the Presidential canvass of 1844, but 
was also a prominent advocate of the plan for annexing Texas, in opposition to 
Mr. Clay and to most of the Southern members of his party in Congress. Upon 
a motion by Mr. John P. Hale, of New-Hampshire — then a Democratic Eepre- 
sentative — that the new territory of Texas be divided into two equal parts, from 
one of which slavery should be for ever excluded, Mr. Stephens (January tenth, 
1845) voted, with but two others from the South, to suspend the rules for its ad- 



156 ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS. 

mission. Conjointly with Milton Brown, of Tennessee, lie wrote an amendment 
to the joint resolution as finally passed, providing tliat States wliicli might be 
formed of the new territory south of the Missouri Compromise line should be ad- 
mitted to the Union with or without slavery, as the inhabitants might determine, 
but that north of the line slavery should be prohibited. In the following Con- 
gress he opposed the Clayton Compromise, (1848,) but was a leader in effecting 
that of 1850. He had previously, in 1847, drafted a series of resolutions upon 
the subject of the Mexican war, which were afterward adopted as a part of the 
jDlatfonn of the Whig laarty. In 1854, although not the formal- manager of the 
Nebraska bill in the House, he was a leader in its support, and by adroitly using 
his skill in parliamentary law, when, in the Committee of the "Whole, he success- 
fully moved that the enacting claxise be stricken out, he probably saved the mea- 
sure from defeat, thus cutting off the amendments by which its opponents hoped 
to destroy it. Upon the dissolution of the Whig party after the first Kansas 
struggle in Congress, Mr. Stephens became a Democrat, and in 1858 steadily sus- 
tained the Lecompton Constitution. At the close of the Thirty-fifth Congress 
(1859) he declined to be a candidate for reelection, his health always having been 
feeble, and he has since taken no active part in political life. At that time he 
informed his constituents that the country was profoundly quiet, and congTatulated 
them upon that condition, declaring that he saw no danger to the Union or to 
Southern security under it, to which last (he said) the Union was, and ought to be, 
subordinate. 

The disturbances following the Presidential election in 1860 called him from 
bis retirement, and he has since made a number of speeches, defending the Union 
and deprecating secession, until the subsequent spring. November fourteenth, 
1860, before the Georgia Legislature, he declared his conviction that secession was 
unjustifiable. In his own words : 

" To make a point of resistance to the Government, to withdraw from it be- 
cause a man has been constitiitionally elected, puts us in the ^vrong. . . . 
We went into the election with this people. The result was different from what 
we wished ; but the election has been- constitutionally held. Were we to make a 
point of resistance to the Government, or go out of the Union on that account, 
the record would be made up hereafter against us." 

On the twenty-second of April following, he made a secession speech at Eich- 
mond, having been chosen Vice-President of the Confedei-acy by Congress on the 
ninth of February, at which time he accepted the office in person. On the night 
of the thirtieth of April, he made a violent war speech at Atlanta, Georgia, charg- 
ing the responsibility upon the North, and declaring that the South would call out 
million after million, till the last man fell, rather than be conquered. Should 
Maj'yland secede, the District of Columbia would fall to her by revisionarj^ right, 



ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS. 157 

as Fort Sumter had fallen to South-Carolina, Fort Pickens to Florida, and Pulasld 
to Georgia ; " and when we have the right we will demand the surrender of 
Washington, just as we did in the other cases, and will enforce our demands at 
every hazard and at whatever cost." 

On the eleventh of July, he made an ingenious and persuasive speech to the 
cotton-planters at Augusta, Georgia, in behalf of the confederate cotton loan. On 
the sixth of November, he was chosen Vice-President under the Constitution, but 
his principal labor for the cause has consisted in travelling over the country and 
delivering public addresses, although for two years past he has lived in seclusion. 
In the spring of 1861, shortly after his election as Vice-President, he delivered at 
Savannah the most remarkable of his speeches. As an exposition of the scope 
and aim of the new Confederacy, put forth by its acknowledged apostle, this 
speech will be preserved in history, and the following extracts are worthy of 
record here : 

" The new Constitution has put at rest for ever all the agitating questions re- 
lating to our peculiar institution — African slavery as it exists among us — the pro- 
per status of the negi'o in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause 
of the late rupture and the present revolution. Jefferson, in his forecast, had 
anticipated this as the rock on which the old Union would split. He was right ; 
what was conjecture with him is now a realized fact. But whether he fully com- 
prehended the great truth upon which that rock stood and stands may be doubt- 
ed. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen 
at the time of the formation of the old Constitution were that the enslavement of 
the African was in violation of the laws of nature ; that it was wrong in principle, 
socially, morally, and politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal 
with ; but the general opinion of the men of that time was that somehow or other, 
in the order of Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away. 
. . . The Constitution, it is true, gave every essential guarantee to the institu- 
tion while it should last, and hence no argument can be justly used against the 
constitutional guarantees thus secured. . . . Those ideas, however, were 
fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. 
This was an error. . . . Our new government is founded upon exactly the 
opposite ideas ; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great 
truth that the negro is not equal to the white man ; that slavery, subordination to 
the superior race, is his natural and normal condition. This, our new govern- 
ment, is the first in the history of the world based upon this great physical, philo- 
sophical, and moral truth. . . . Ours is the first government ever instituted 
upon principles in strict conformity to nature and the ordination of Providence in 
furnishing the materials of human society. Many governments have been formed 
upon the principle of enslaving certain classes ; but the classes thus enslaved were 



158 ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS. 

of tlie same race and in violation of the laws of nature. Our S3^steni commits no 
sucli violation of natural laws. The negro by natm-e or by the curse against 
Canaan is fitted for that condition which he occupies in our system. The archi- 
tect, in the construction of a building, lays the foundation with the proper mate- 
rial — ^granite — then comes the brick or marble. The substratum of our society is 
made of the material fitted by nature for it, and by experience we know that it is 
the best, not only for the superior but for the inferior race. . . . This stone 
which was rejected by the first builders is become the chief stone of the corner in 
our new edifice." 

This speech boldly admits what had always been claimed by the North re- 
specting the sentiment of the founders of the republic, and flings the gauntlet to 
the whole world, openly declaring that the principle of the inequality of races and 
the natural subordination of the negro must finally trivimph, even against the 
world. 

Mr. Stephens's political life becomes consistent by remembering that he was 
a champion of Southern interests and policy throughout. While Mr. Mason, of 
Virginia, was the leader in the Senate, Mr. Stephens for years held a like position 
in the House, and his rai-e fitness for that work was conceded. He was a shrewd 
debater, specious when on the wrong side of the question ; and for sagacity and 
devotion to the Southern cause no one has exceeded him since Calhoun. His 
2)osition in 1860 must be interpreted by himself a year later ; and hence it appears 
that the double charge of cleaving to the Union and then going heartily over to 
secession cannot be proved upon him. His preference for the Union and his op- 
position to secession were unquestionably sincere, but they must be judged by his 
remark in 1859, that the Union was, and ought to be, subordinate to Southern 
security. Thinking the old Union safer and better than any new form, he clung 
to the old while it was possible. 

The state of his health forbade his taking any active part in the rebellion, 
but gave him the position of its recognized spokesman, for which he was the fit- 
test man in its territory. He spoke to the world of what the Confederacy was 
and meant to be ; and to the people,' to settle in their minds the ideas on which 
the revolution was based. The popular trust in him was always high, both as 
orator and as statesman. In no other way could he have rendered the rebellion 
so effectual service as with his voice, and it is in this connection that his name 
will be known in the history of the time. 




£ng4ljrAH.Bit«n' • 



^^TV^i 



n^ f X-^-^ ^^4 



O. B. WILLOOX. 

GENERAL 0. B. WILLCOX was bom at Detroit in 1823. In 1842, he 
received an appointinent to the Military Academy at West-Point, gradu- 
ated with honor, being eighth in a very large class, in 1847, and was assigned the 
position of second lieutenant in the Fourth artillery, no higher grade having been 
given to any of the graduates of that class. 

Ordered to Mexico, he was connected with Drumm's famous battery, and re- 
mained until the close of the war. He was afterward stationed at Pensacola, 
Florida ; on the plains of Arkansas ; Fort Washington, Virginia ; Fort Ontario, 
New- York ; Fort Mifflin, Pennsylvania ; and at Fort Independence, Boston Harbor. 
Here he was called to perform a most signal sei-vice to the country, in quelling 
the famous Burns Riot, and in the performance of the duty assigned him, indi- 
cated the possession of those soldierly qualities of command, eminently fitting 
him for the discharge of the duties of those high positions which, in the i:)rogress 
of this rebellion, he has been called to fill. On that occasion a requisition was 
made for United States troops at the dead of night. General Willcox (then Lieu- 
tenant) was detailed, and crossing to Boston with his men, led them in the face 
of that most dangerous enemy, an infariated mob, with that resolute bravery and 
prudent forbearance which alone prevented the most terrible bloodshed. To his 
firmness and j^rudence on that occasion was attributed the peaceable enforcement 
of the law. 

After leaving Fort Independence, he performed most disagreeable and ardu- 
ous duty in Texas, and immediately afterward was ordered to the swamps of Flo- 
rida, where he spent a year in the campaign against the renowned Billy Bowlegs 
and his wily tribe, enduring such privations and exposure that his health became 
seriously impaired ; and returning in the autumn of 1857, he resigned his com- 
mission, having been ten years in the United States army. 

Possessed of fine literary taste, while in the ai-my he published several works, 
which were received with great favor. 

In 1858, he was admitted to the bar of his native city, and practised his pi'o- 
fession there with distinguished success until the breaking out of the rebellion, 
when he was among the very first to respond to his country's call, and was ap- 
pointed by the Governor of Michigan Colonel of the First Michigan volunteers. 



160 0. B. WILLCOX. 

Having, " during the interregnum," interested himself greatly in the militia of 
Michigan, by delivering lectures through the State and before the Legislature, and 
by perfecting the militia laws, he became so favorably and extensively known as 
a competent and thorough ofiicer, that upon his appointment, the regiment was 
enlisted, equipped, and di-illed in an incredibly short time, and hastened to the 
defence of the Capitol, being the first regiment that an-ived at the theatre of war 
from west of the Alleghanies, and, until then, the best disciplined and equipped 
that had marched into Washington. This was recognized by the Commander-in- 
Chief, who placed him in the van of the first advance, and Colonel Willcox, in 
conjunction with the lamented Ellsworth, took possession of Alexandria, the first 
hostile city taken in the rebellion, of which he was appointed the first Military 
Governor, organized its government, and issued liis proclamation, which was 
printed by the men of his command. 

Subsequently he was appointed to the command of a brigade, consisting of 
the Michigan First, Ellsworth's Fire Zouaves, the Thirty-eighth New- York, and 
Arnold's battery, and held such command at the battle of Bull Eun. His gal- 
lantry upon that field was conspicuous, and the subject of praise and commenda- 
tion even from the enemy. Although commandant of the brigade, he led four 
successive charges, in the last of which he received a frightful wound in the right 
arm from an exploding shell ; his horse was shot under him and fell, and he, faint 
from loss of blood, was taken prisoner by the rebels, together with two of his cap- 
tains — the lamented Buttcrworth, wounded and since dead, and Withington, who, 
though unhurt, nobly braved the perils of a Southern prison rather than desert 
his wounded Colonel — and seventy of his men. So severe was the wound of 
Colonel Willcox, and the consequent exhaustion, that he could not be removed 
from the field until several days after the battle, when he was taken to Eichmond, 
sharing with the wounded Captain Eicketts in the kind care of his heroic wife. 
He was subsequently removed to Castle Pinckney, thence to the common jail in 
Charleston, and afterward to Columbia and Salisbury, N. C, as one of the host- 
ages for the privateers, where he remained until the general exchange of prisoners, 
enduring the consequent siafferings and privations, as expressed by one of his 
fellow-prisoners, " with the fortitude of a brave soldier and a Christian gentleman," 
and was released from jorison in August, 1862, after a confinement of thirteen 
months. 

Upon his arrival at Washington, after his discharge, he was welcomed with 
the utmost enthusiasm, and as a recognition of the bravery and efficiency dis- 
played at Bull Eun, as well as the fortitude with which he had borne the priva- 
tions of his long imprisonment, the President immediately promoted him to be a 
Brigadier-General, with commission to date from July twenty-first, 1861, and 
granted to him a furlovigh of twenty days. 



0. B. WILLCOX. 161 

So impressed was lie with the importance of a superior force to meet tlae 
large armies which the rebels were everywhere putting iato the field, that much 
of the time of his farlough was devoted to inculcating true views of the magni- 
tude of the rebellion, the necessity of large armies, and the encouragement of en- 
listments, and his stirring appeals, both in his native State and elsewhere, con- 
duced largely to the accomplishment of these results. After a brief visit to De- 
troit, where he received a most enthusiastic public reception, General Willcox, ten 
days before the expiration of his furlough, joined the army of the Potomac at 
Leesboro, September ninth, taking command of the Ninth army corps, and four 
days after participated in the battle of South-Mountain, his division leading the 
charge up the heights, and gaining the crest, driving the enemy off his own 
ground. On the seventeenth, at Antietam, General Willcox commanded on the 
right of the attack made by General Bumside's corps, his First division earned 
the heights to the town of Sharpsburgh. Yielding to repeated orders, the posi- 
tion gained was reluctantly abandoned, and the division fell back near the bridge 
in perfect order. In this action he had one horse killed and another disabled, 
everywhere displaying characteristic coolness and courage. 

Early in October, General Burnside having been assigned a larger command. 
General WUlcox took command of the Ninth army coi-ps, which he held with 
much credit, no man in the army having greater power to elicit the esteem and 
enthusiasm of his men, and in this position he led the infantry advance, support- 
ing General Pleasanton's cavalry in the march down the Blue Eidge to Warren- 
ton. While the army lay there. General Willcox commanded the outer line of 
defences, and after General Burnside took command of the army of the Potomac, 
led the march, and was the first to reach Falmouth. 

At the battle of Fredericksburgh, December eleventh, 1862, the Ninth corps 
held the centre, and did all that well-disciplined troops could to win that fatal 
day. 

On the fifteenth of January, 1863, General Willcox was relieved of the com- 
mand of the Ninth corps by Major-General Sedgwick, and took that of the First 
division, but upon the corps being transferred to Kentucky, it again fell to his 
command. His administration of the District of Central Kentucky, headquarters 
at Lexington, gave universal satisfaction, and the civil disturbances in Indiana 
oecun-ing just as the corps was starting for Vicksburgh, he was ordered by Gene- 
ral Burnside to Indianapolis, taking command of the military department of the 
States of Indiana and Michigan. His tact and ability soon restored quiet, and 
during the Morgan raid, his prompt action turned the course of that daring rebel 
from the State. 

Eelieved from that department, General Willcox again joined General Burn- 
side, September sixth, in the field, near Knoxville, where he commanded the left 



162 0. B. WILLCOX. 

wing of the army, and participated in figlit at Blue Springs, October tenth ; and 
when Knoxville was besieged, accomplished the difficult task of retiring with the 
entire wagon-train of that portion of tlie army to Cumberland Gap, which he held, 
doing efficient service in sending out skirmishing parties to attract the enemy's 
cavalry, three times their number, keeping open communication, and getting 
supplies. 

Upon Major-General Foster's assuming command in Tennessee, General Will- 
cos was assigned the Second division of the Ninth army corps, which he now 
commands. 

In the autumn of 1862, General Willcox was nominated by the President to 
be Major-General, but the nomination was not confirmed by the Senate, on the 
ground that the number allowed by law had already been filled. It is now again 
recommended by the entire Michigan delegation in Congress, as a recognition due 
to General Willcox for his faithful and meritorious services in the field. 




^;^^' ry . 



JEFFEESOK DATIS. 

AS the formal and responsible head of the rebellion, although not especially 
prominent in bringing it about, Jefferson Davis will occupy a marked posi- 
tion in the history of this eventful century. He was born June third, 1808, in a 
part of Christian County, Kentucky, which now forms Todd County. Shortly 
after his birth, his father, Samuel Davis, who was from Georgia and had served in 
the Eevolution in the mounted forces of that State, removed with his family to 
Mississippi, and settled in Wilkinson County, near the town of Woodville. Here 
young Davis received an academical education, and at the proper age was sent to 
Transylvania College, Lexington, Kentucky, which he left in 1824 to enter the 
Military Academy at West- Point, from which he gi-aduated in 1828, being the 
twenty-eighth in a class of fifty-three. 

He was appointed brevet second lieutenant, and remained about seven years 
in the army, during which time he served as an infantry and stafif-oflicer on the 
north-western frontier during the Black Hawk war of 1831-2. From this he was 
promoted to be first lieutenant of dragoons, and was employed in that capacity, in 
1834, in operations against the Pawnees, Camanches, and other Indian tribes. In 
June, of the following year, he resigned his commission and returned to Missis- 
sippi, betaking himself to private life in the occupation of a cotton-planter. He 
continued in retirement till 1843, when he began to take an active interest in 
politics, upon the Democratic side, and in 1844 was chosen a Presidential elector 
upon the ticket of Polk and Dallas. The following year, he was nominated for 
Congress and elected in November, his opponent, Patrick W. Tompkins, being 
also a Kentuckian by birth. During this term in Congress he took a prominent 
part in discussions upon the tariff, the Oregon question, and particularly in the 
preparations for the war with Mexico. In July, 1846, while occupying his seat 
in the House of Eepresentatives, the First regiment of MississipjDi volunteei's, en- 
rolled for the war, organized by choosing him their Colonel, and he left Washing- 
ton to place himself at their head. The regiment was already on the march for 
the Eio Grande, but he overtook it at New-Orleans, and led it to reenforce Gene- 
ral Taylor, his father-in-law. In the month of September he was actively engaged 
in the attack and storming of Monterey, and was one of the commissioners for 
arranging the terms of capitulation. At Buena Vista, on the twenty-third of Feb- 
ruary, 1847, he bore a distinguished part. His regiment being attacked by a 



164 JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

.superior force, maintained their ground for a long time unsupported, and Colonel 
Davis, altliougli severely wounded, remained in his saddle until the close of the 
action, and was complimented for gallantry by the commander-in-chief in his des- 
patches of March sixth. At the expiration of its term of enlistment, in July, 
1847, the regiment returned home ; and Davis, who accompanied it, was met at 
New-Orleans by a commission from President Polk as Brigadier-General of volun- 
teers, but he declined this, on the ground that by the Constitution the militia ap- 
pointments are reserved to the States, and that such appointments by the Presi- 
dent are in violation of State rights. In the following month, he received from 
the Governor of Mississippi the appointment of United States Senator to fill a 
vacancy ; and at the next session of the Legislature, January eleventh, 1848, he 
was unanimously reelected for the remainder of the teiTn, which expired March 
fourth, 1851. In 1850, he was reelected for a full term, but being nominated for 
Governor by the Democratic party in opposition to Henry S. Foote, candidate of 
the Union party, he resigned his seat, but was beaten by a majority of nine hun- 
di-ed and ninety-nine — a proof of his popularity, for in the " Convention election," 
two months previous, his party was in a minority of over two thousand. Upon 
his defeat, he returned again to private life, in which he remained until the Presi- 
dential contest of 1852, when he took the stump in behalf of Pierce and King 
through the States of Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana, and was rewarded by 
the appointment of Secretary of War. In 1856, he was again elected to the Sen- 
ate, and in the following year took his seat for the temi ending March fourth, 
1863 — a term which he did not complete. 

In the Senate he took from the first a position among the prominent Southern 
leaders, being among the keenest and most sagacious of them all. In the 
Thirtieth Congress, July twenty-fourth, 1848, he voted for Clayton's Compromise 
Bill, which established ten-itorial governments for Oregon, New-Mexico, and Cali- 
fornia, and submitted all questions relative to slavery therein to the decision of 
the Supreme Court. August tenth, the same subject being upon consideration in 
another form, he voted for Mr. Douglas's amendment, recognizing the Missouri 
Compromise line as rightfully extending to the Pacific. In the following Con- 
gress, he opposed Mr. Clay's compromise resolutions, and it was in reply to some 
remarks by him in opposition, January twenty-ninth, 1850, that Mr. Clay made 
his memorable declaration that no earthly power could induce him " to vote for 
a specific measure for the introduction of slavery where it had not before existed, 
either north or so»th of" the Missouri compromise line, of which line Mr. Davis 
had expressed himself thus : " I here assert that never will I take less than the Mis- 
souri Compromise line extended to the Pacific Ocean, with the specific recognition 
of the right to hold slaves in the territory below that line ; and that, before such 
territories are admitted into the Union as States, slaves may be taken there from 
any of the United States, at the option of the owners." July twenty-third, he 



JEFFERSON DAVIS. 165 

moved to add to a bill enabling California to form a State Constitution tbe follow- 
ing : " And that all laws and usages existing in said territory at the date of its 
acquisition by the United States, which deny or obstruct the right of any citizen 
of the United States to remove to, and reside in, said territory, with any species 
of property legally held in any of the States of the Union, be, and are hereby de- 
clared to be, null and void." This was lost by twenty -two to thirty-three. 
Throughout the long Kansas struggle, and down to the time of the breaking out 
of the war, he continued upon the same side of the absorbing questions of the day 
without being specially prominent. As Secretary of War, he proposed or carried 
out a revision of the army regulations ; introduced the manufacture of the Mini(5 
ball ; brought camels into the country ; and earned on some explorations in the 
western part of the continent. 

The noticeable portion of his life, however, begun soon after the Presidential 
election of 1860. On December twentieth, of that year, he asked to be excused 
from serving on Mr. Powell's committee of thirteen to whom was referred so much 
of the President's Message as related to the disturbed condition of the country, 
but afterward consented to serve. On the twenty-first of January he took part in 
the most memorable scene of the winter. In company with the Senators from 
Alabama and Florida, he took leave of the Senate with a speech, in which he 
gave his opinion that by the secession of his State his connection with that body 
was terminated, and reaffirmed the doctrine of the right of secession, which he 
had long before maintained. The confederate Congress at Montgomery, Alabama, 
chose him President under the Provisional Constitution on the ninth of February, 
the day after its adoption, and on the sixteenth of the month he arrived at Mont- 
gomery and accepted the office in a brief address, prophesying peace, but threat- 
ening that the enemies of the South would be made to " smell Southern powder 
and feel Southern steel." On the second day following, he was inaugurated, de- 
livering a brief inaugural of a general nature. On the seventeenth of April, two 
days after the first proclamation of President Lincoln, Davis responded by a pro- 
clamation authorizing privateering, and followed up this line of action by ad- 
dressing to Mr. Lincoln, on the sixth of July, a letter relative to the prisoners 
taken on the privateer Savannah, proposing an exchange and threatening retalia- 
tion. Still deprecating the idea of war, on the twenty -fifth of May he wrote to the 
Maryland Commissioners, who had been appointed to urge the cessation of hostili- 
ties in order to negotiate, asserting his desire for peace, and his conviction of the 
right of each State to assume its own control. August fourteenth, he issued a 
proclamation, warning all persons of fourteen years and upward, owning allegi- 
ance to the United States, to leave the Confederacy within forty days or be treat- 
ed as alien enemies. On the sixth of November, he was chosen permanent Presi- 
dent without opposition, and assumed ofiice under this election on the twenty- 
second of February, 1862. February twenty-eighth, he vetoed a bill prohibiting 



166 JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

the slave-trade, on the ground of the inconsistency of a certain proviso with the 
Constitution. On the twenty -first of May, he renewed the repudiation scheme of 
Mississippi upon a large scale, by approving an act providing that all persons ow- 
ing debts to parties in the North should pay the same into the confederate Treasu- 
ry'. Shortly after his inauguration, he gave the first hint toward conscription, in 
a special message, suggesting " some simple and general system for exercising the 
power for raising armies," and recommending a law declaring that all persons be- 
tween eighteen and thirty-five years, rightfully subject to militaiy duty, be held 
to be in the sendee of the confederate States. December twenty-thkd, 1862, he 
issued a proclamation on account of the hanging of the rebel Mumford, at New- 
Orleans, by General Butler, for having torn down the United States flag, in which 
he pronounced Butler an outlaw, who should be immediately hanged upon cap- 
ture, and that, until he had been punished for his crimes, no commissioned officer 
taken captive should be released on parole. He farther ordered that all commis- 
sioned officers sendng under Butler be held as outlaws, and reserved for execution 
when cajDtured, and that all negroes taken in arms be delivered to the authorities 
of their respective States. 

The influence and position of Mr. Davis as President of the Southern Con- 
federacy are not to be traced chiefly in his message^ and proclamations, which 
have been numerous. These have been characterized by a certain specious abili- 
t}^,- especially remarkable in his first messages, which were obviously planned for 
effect abroad. His message on the seizure of Slidell and Mason, dated November 
eighteenth, 1861, and his public addresses during the first year of the war were 
careful attempts at securing the foreign aid which was at first the principal hope 
of the rebellion. But his later messages are more bitter and desponding in tone. 
The direction of the military operations on the part of the rebels have been his in 
general plan, and in his message of February twenty-fifth, 1862, he confesses, 
after the fall of Fort Donelson, that " events have demonstrated that the govern- 
ment had attempted more than it had power to achieve ;" in other words, that his 
own plan of defendmg the whole rebel domain was a failure. 

His health has been feeble, and he has nearly or quite lost the use of one 
eye ; but he has succeeded in holding the reins with a strong hand. The policy 
of the Confederacy has been his policy, and its men also his men. And, as his 
opponents in the Eichmond Congress openly charge, he has retained his personal 
favorites in service long after they had ignominiously failed, and has never visited 
the army but disaster has followed him. The task, however, has been gigantic 
on both sides of the line, and for a man who should combine the traits of shrewd- 
ness, plausibility, foresight, and self-will, with some military experience and pres- 
tige, it is diEficult to see how the rebels could have chosen better, even if they did 
not choose well 




■Sng'^bvAHPi 



\Lu/(.;t:.\.Gt:uUGii: g. mk.vde:. 



GEOEGE GOEDOI^ MEADE. 

ONE battle only fought in the North has yet taken place to verify the rebel 
boast that the war would be on Northern soiL It does not seem possible 
that there should be another, but there has been one, as if to mark the rule by 
the notable exception, and the leader of the oft unfortunate army which won it 
was sharjjly called to severe trial. Gettysburgh will be prominent in the roll of 
battle-fields, and with it will be named George Gordon Meade. He was bom 
December thirty-first, 1815, at Cadiz, Spain, where his parents were temporarily 
residing. His father was a merchant of Philadelphia, Pa., and for several years 
after 1800 had held the position of consul and navy agent at Cadiz. Partly 
through his exertions and influence the territory of Florida was acquired from the 
Spanish government, by whom he was held in high regard. 

While yet an infant, young Meade was brought by his parents to Philadel- 
phia on their return, and at an early age was sent to the boys' school at Georgetown, 
D. C, at that time kept by Mr. Chase, now Secretary of the Treasury. From this 
school he was transfei-red to a military academy at Mount Airy, in the vicinity of 
Philadelphia, and in September of 1831 entered the Military Academy at West- 
Point Graduating in the summer of 1835, he entered the army as brevet second 
lieutenant of the Third artillery, and was ordered to Florida, being saved, by an 
attack of illness, from being exposed to the " Dale massacre," which occurred in 
that campaign. On the last day of the year, he became a full second lieutenant, 
but in October following resigned his position and retired fi'om the service, be- 
coming a civil engineer, in which capacity he was employed on various surveys, 
public and private. Of these the principal one was the survey of the north-east- 
ern boundary line, then under the direction of Colonel James D. Graham, of the 
Topographical Engineers. May nineteenth, 1842, he was reappointed to the 
army, with the rank of second lieutenant of the topographical engineers. Shortly 
aftei'ward he was ordered to Mexico, and took part in the war, being at different 
times a meniber of the staff of Generals Taylor, Worth, and Patterson, and partici- 
pating in the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Saltillo, and Monterey, 
being brevetted first lieutenant for gallantry during the siege of the latter place. 
At Vera Cruz, as topographical engineer on the staff of General Patterson, he 
made several important reconnoissances, and selected the site for the naval battery. 



168 GEORGE GORDON MEADE. 

At the termination of the siege he returned to the United States, and was soon 
after presented with a sword by the citizens of Philadelphia. After peace was 
concluded, he employed himself in river and harbor improvements, and in con- 
structing lighthouses on Delaware Bay, but hostilities being renewed in Florida, 
he returned to the field in that State, under command of General Taylor. A fort 
on the western coast of the State still bears his name, given it by General Twiggs, 
who built it about this time in accordance with his advice. 

The brief war over, he resumed his superintendence of lighthouse construction 
in Delaware Bay and off the coast of Florida. He became first lieutenant in the 
summer of 1851, and a captain May nineteenth, 1856, and in the latter year he 
was ordered to Detroit, Michigan, to aid the National survey of the lakes. On 
the breaking out of the rebellion he was still at Detroit, but was directed to report 
at Washington, and on August thii'ty-first, 1861, he received an appointment as 
brigadier-general of volunteers, and had for his command the Second brigade of 
the Pennsylvania reserve corps, which had been raised and placed under the di- 
rection of General McCall. He assumed his command on the thirteenth of Sep- 
tember, near Georgetown, D. C, and remained during the following winter at that 
locality, improving the time in drill. In the spring of 1862, the army of the Po- 
tomac advancing to Manassas, the reserves went as one of the three divisions of 
the First corps, then under General McDowell, and remained with him until they 
joined McClellan on the Peninsula, after the battle of Hanover Court-House. 
There they were placed in the Fifth corps, on the right wing, but the actual serv- 
ice of the Second brigade at that period was confined to reconnoissances, some of 
them important. 

June nineteenth, 1862, General Meade was promoted to the rank of Major in 
the regular army. Seven days later, June twenty-sixth, the long battle known as 
the " seven days' fight " began with the engagement at Mechauicsville. During 
this day, Meade's brigade was held in reserve within supporting distance, and 
though the first brigade was withdrawn when the division fell back to Gaines's 
Mill, the Second fought well and retired in excellent order, winning the thanks of 
the officer in command. On the following day, the whole of the reserves were en- 
gaged and held their ground at great odds for three hours, and for his conduct in 
rallying and directing them during the battle. General Meade was again thanked 
by General McCall, and was nominated for the brevet of lieiitenant-colonel. 

On the twenty-ninth of June, the reserves, having crossed the Chickahominy, 
were posted at New-Market Cross-Roads, to repel any attack from Richmond. On 
the following morning they were halted at the junction of the New-Market and Tur- 
key Bridge roads, Meade's brigade being on the right, and the afternoon brought 
on a fierce engagement, in which the reserves inflicted heavy losses on the rebels, 
and finally broke their lines by determined bayonet charges, having held them at 



GEORGE GORDON MEADE. 169 

bay and prevented them from precipitating themselves upon the exposed column 
of McClellan. General Meade, in a letter to McClellan, said that." it was only the 
stubborn resistance olTered by our division, prolonging the contest till after dark, 
and checking till that time the advance of the enemy, that enabled the concentra- 
tion during the night of the whole army on James Eiver, which saved it." Dur- 
ing the fight. General Meade was severely, and as it seemed for a time mortally, 
wounded, one ball striking his arm, and another entering near the hip-bone and 
passing around the body. He returned to Philadelphia, but his strong constitu- 
tion recovered in six weeks' sufficiently to permit his return. 

On the thirteenth of August, he rejoined the a:-my at Harrison's Landing, 
and shortly after, when the army left the Peninsula and joined General Pope, the 
Pennsylvania reserves accompanied it. Beaching Fredericksburgh, the division 
was ordered, on the twenty-first of August, to join the army of Virginia, then 
marching from Eappahannock Station to Warrenton, and on its arrival was as- 
signed for the present to McDowell's corps. From the twenty-eighth to the thirti- 
eth, General Meade was actively engaged in the retreat which closed the Pope 
campaign, in which the division sustained a loss of six hundred and fifty-three. 
General Reynolds, who then commanded the reserves, writes officially, " General 
Meade, as heretofore, conducted his brigade in the most skilful manner through- 
out the entire marches and actions ;" and General Pope also says : " The Pennsyl- 
vania reserves, under Reynolds, rendered most gallant and efficient service in all 
the operations which occurred after he had reported to me. General Meade 
performed his duty with ability and gallantry, and in all fidelity to the Govern- 
ment and the army." 

In September early, General Meade's command marched toward the section 
of Maryland into which the rebel General Lee was fast advancing, and at South- 
Mountain the division disjDlayed their old bravery as a part of General Hooker's 
corps. On the night of the day on which this battle took place, General Meade's 
troops were again hotly engaged at Antietam Greek for four hours, at the end 
of which they pursued the flying rebels for three miles. At dawn of the seven- 
teenth, the famous battle of Antietam began in skirmishes by the firont of the Penn- 
sylvania resei'ves, and throughout the day they were in the hottest and bravest of 
the fight, led and encouraged by General Meade, who had two horses killed under 
him. General Hooker having been wounded, General Meade took temporary 
command of his corps, retaining this position until the return of General Reynolds 
from Pennsylvania. 

In the latter part of October, 1862, the army recrossed the Potomac. Gene- 
ral Meade accompanied it, and on the twenty-ninth of November received the ap- 
pointment of Major-General of volunteers, having been earnestly recommended 
for this position by General Hooker. In the battle of Fredericksburgh, in Decern- 



170 GEORGE GORDON MEADE. 

ber, he was a participant witli the reserves, and on the twenty-fifth of that month 
he was appointed to the command of the Fifth army corps, and accordingly took 
leave of his old division. For a little time he commanded the centre grand divi- 
sion of the army ; and when General Burnside was succeeded by General Hooker 
as Commander-in-Chief of the Potomac army, toward the close of January, 1863, 
Genei-al Meade retained command of the Fifth corps, and when the army com- 
menced the movement on Fredericksburgh, that corps went as a part of the right 
wing, marching a distance of fifty miles in less than three days, including all halts 
and rests, one of which was for ten hours. Two large rivers had to be crossed in 
a pouring rain, and the corps forded the Kapidan with its artillery, the men being 
waist deep. The battle of Chancellorsville opened on the second of May, and 
when it ended in defeat on the third day after, and the Kappahannock was re- 
crossed and made good its title of " Eiver of Death," the Fifth corps, after fighting 
throughout, covered the retreat and guarded the crossing till the army was 
safely over. 

Soon after came the unexpected and sudden call to the highest position which 
no general had yet successfully filled. In June, Lee made good, for the first time 
in reality, the rebel threat of a Northern invasion, moving into Maryland, then 
across the State, and finally entering and ravaging the border counties of Pennsyl- 
vania, mviltiplying and spreading his power by the terror he excited. Early on 
Sunday, the twenty-eighth. General Meade being then at Frederick, Maryland, he 
was wakened by the messenger from General Halleck, who brought the intelli- 
gence that he had been designated as the successor of General Hooker in the first 
command. The circumstances under which this appointment was given, and 
withal the perfect corres|3ondence of the words in which he announced it to the 
army with the character of the man and with his previous announcements on vari- 
ous occasions, make it fitting to insert his words here : 

" Headquarters Army of the Potomac, June 28, 1863. 
" By direction of the President of the United States, I do hereby assume 
command of the army of the Potomac. As a soldiei', in obeying this order, an 
order totally unexpected and unsolicited, I have no promises or pledges to make. 
The country looks to this army to deliver it from the devastation and disgrace of 
a hostile invasion. Whatever fatigues and sacrifices we may be called upon to 
undergo, let us have in view constantly the magnitude of the interests involved, 
and let each man determine to do his duty, leaving to an all-controlling Providence 
the decision of the contest. It is with just diffidence that I relieve in the com- 
mand of this army an eminent and accomplished soldier, whose name must ever 
appear conspicuous in the history of its achievements ; but I rely upon the hearty 



GEORGE GORDON MEADE. 171 

support of my companions in arms to assist me in the cliscliarge of the duties of 
the important trust which has been confided to me. 

" George G. Meade, Major-General Commanding." 

The power of the new commander was not to I'emain long untested. On the 
thirtieth, he issued to the army a brief and spirited order, requesting all command- 
ing officers to address their men in explanation of the immense issues involved in 
the coming struggle, soon expected, and closed with these words : " Corps and 
other commanders are authorized to order the instant death of any soldier who 
fails to do his duty at this hour." 

At the time when he was placed in command, on the twenty-eighth of June, 
the rebel army under Lee, estimated at one hundred thousand strong, had crossed 
the Potomac and advanced vcp the Cumberland Valley. Ewell's corps was on the 
Susquehanna ; Longstreet's at Chanibersburgh ; Hill's between that place and 
Cash town. " The twenty-eighth of June was spent in ascertaining the positions 
and strength of the different corps of the army, but princiijally in bringing up the 
cavalry, which had been covering the rear of the army in its passage over the 
Potomac, and to which a large increase had just been made from the force previ- 
ously attached to the defences of Washington. Orders were given on this day to 
Major-General French, commanding at Harper's Ferry, to move with seven thou- 
sand men to occupy Frederick and the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad, 
with the balance of his force, estimated at four thousand, to remove and escort 
public property to Washington." On the twenty-ninth, the army was put in mo- 
tion, and on the evening of that day it was in position, the left at Emmitsburgh, 
and the right at New-Windsor. On the thirtieth, the right flank was moved up 
to Manchester, the left being still at Emmitsburgh, and the enemy being reijorted 
approaching from Cashtown, General Eeynolds was directed to occupy Gettys- 
burgh with three corps. Reaching that place on the first of July, General Eey- 
nolds found Buford's cavalry already engaged, and accordingly moved around the 
town and attacked with his force, and the battle fairly begun. The first afternoon, 
the arrival of reenforcements and the junction of Ewell's corps enabled the rebels 
to outflank our line and force it to withdraw with a considerable loss in prisoners. 
Early on the following morning, General Meade arrived on the field in person, 
several corps also arriving during the day, which was spent in repulsing the as- 
saults of the rebels. On the third, the contest was renewed, ending with a final 
assault upon our left and centre, upon the failure o^ which the rebels retired to 
their lines, and the battle was over. The morning of the fifth saw the enemy in 
full retreat, their loss having been three guns, forty-one standards, thirteen thou- 
sand and twenty-six prisoners, and twenty-four thousand nine hundred and seven- 
ty-eight small arms. The loss on the oj^posite side was two thousand eight hun- 



172 GEORGE GORDON MEADE. 

dred and ninety-four killed, thirteen thousand seven hundred and nine wounded, 
and six thousand six hundred and forty-three missing — twenty-three thousand 
one hundred and eighty-six in all. The intelligence of the victory was sent over 
the Northern States on the fourth, together with that of the suiTender of Vicks- 
burgh to General Grant, breaking the long and horrible suspense by a thrill 
of joy. 

Pursuit of the retreating rebels was made on the seventh, and on the twelfth 
they were overtaken when in front of Williamsport. On the fourteenth, our 
cavalry advanced on Williamsport, but Lee had crossed the Potomac during the 
previous night by a ford at Williamsport and a bridge at Palling Waters. Par- 
suit was then given up, and the army shortly recrossed into Virginia and resumed 
its former position on the Eappahannock. A fight at Bristow, on the Orange and 
Alexandria Eailroad, on the fourteenth of October ; two engagements on the Eap- 
pahannock on the seventh of November ; Locust Grove on the twenty-seventh, 
and Mine Eun on the thirtieth of November, terminated the work of that year. 
February twenty-ninth, 1864, General Meade was confirmed by the Senate as 
Brigadier-General in the regular- army, his commission bearing date July thirti- 
eth, 1863. 

Gettysburgh will always be deemed among the memorable battles of the 
war. It was the first fought upon Northern soil, and ended an increasing panic 
and paralysis of several weeks ; and after the danger was fully over, it was clearly 
seen how narrowly the country had passed its crisis. The nation breathed freely, 
and then realized how nearly it had been lost, for Gettysburgh lost would have 
been the loss of Washington and New- York, and the failure of the Union cause, 
since nothing stood before Lee but the army of the Potomac. For the courage 
and the faith which resisted the demoralization almost necessarily succeeding so 
long a succession of failures and so many changes of commanders ; for the faith 
and spirit which secured a victory to an untried leader in the fii'st week of his 
leadership ; for the discernment to see, and the heart to fight for, the issues in- 
volved in that one trial, the nation owes the army of the Potomac a debt which it 
has hardly begun to pay, perhaps not yet to understand. Honor is thus due to 
the army, but to the leader as well. Under an inferior commander the vigor of 
the army would have been lost, and though General Meade must divide the honor 
of Gettysburgh with his soldiers, (as he would wish to do,) he cannot escape his 
share. 



_»55^^:^^§4^>V^Sr-- 




GEN", P, T G BTAURE r, A-RD 



G. T. BEAUEEGARD. 

THE rebel General Gustave Toutant Beauregard, as lie signs himself, al- 
though, ordinary mention has prefixed the additional name of Pien-e, was 
born in the parish, or county, of St. Bernard, Louisiana, near New-Orleans, May 
twenty-eighth, 1818. His father, James T. Beam-egard, was of French extraction, 
and was an influential citizen in the parish where he resided. Beauregard's 
mother was descended from an old family of Louisiana, whose ancestors were of 
Italian origin, as indicated by their family name of Eeggio. At the age of twelve, 
young Gustave entered the school of the Messieurs Jurget in New- York, and at 
sixteen received an appointment to the Military Academy at "West-Point, from 
which he graduated in 1839, holding the second position in his class. He served 
with some distinction in the Mexican war, and upon the authority of J. P. H. 
Claiborne, was publicly complimented in the city of Mexico by General Scott. 
In Claiborne's biography of General John A. Quitman occurs the following note 
with Quitman's indorsement : 

" A fortnight after, while our anny was within the city, when General Scott 
was riding with General Twiggs and Smith on the San Cosine road, meeting Lieu- 
tenant Beauregard with Colonel Hitchcock and Mr. Trist, he said in a tone of 
feigned severity : ' Young man, I wish to reprimand you, and I wish the whole 
army was present, but these Generals represent it. Why did you advise me to 
attack by the west gate ? You now see the consequences ! "We have taken this 
great city and the halls of Montezuma after a few hours' hard fighting, and with 
only a loss of eight hundred men. Be careful in future, sir, of such bad advice 
to your seniors.' " 

On his return from Mexico in 1848, he received a sword from the planters of 
Plaquemine and St. Bernard, which he wore, thirteen years after, at his disgrace- 
ful success in bombarding seventy starved men in Fort Sumter. In 1853, Presi- 
dent Franklin Pierce, who was his friend and had been associated with him during 
the former's brief experience in the Mexican war, gave him the appointment of 
the superintendence over the construction of the custom-house at New-Orleans* 
For this work, says his Soathei-n biographer, he was so admirably adapted that, 
although millions of dollars passed through his hands during the many years he 
was employed by the Government on the different forts, at the settlement of his 
accounts with the sub-treasury, in 1861, the United States owed him one cent 



174 G. T. BEAtTREGARD. 

In 1860, while he was brevet-colonel of United States engineers, President 
Buchanan gave him the appointment of Superintendent of the Military Academy 
at West-Point, but his views of allegiance to the South compelled him to decline, 
and upon the secession of Louisiana, he resigned his position in the army and re- 
turned to New-Orleans, enlisting there as a private in the Second company of the 
New-Orleans Guards. In 1860, he married, as his second wife. Miss Caroline Des 
Chondes, becoming thereby brother-in-law of John Slidell. 

February twenty-sixth, 1861, he was appointed brigadier-general in the rebel 
army, and on the fifth of March was ordered by Jefferson Davis to take command 
of the forces at Charleston. He employed his engineering skill and his West- 
Point instruction in surrounding Fort Sumter with the batteries, on the construc- 
tion of which the little peaceful garrison looked without offering hindrance or re- 
monstrance, and when all were completed, and the Star of the West had been 
fired upon and driven off, the correspondence relative to the Fort began between 
Beauregard and the rebel authorities at Montgomery, Alabama. April seventh, 
he issued an order, and sent a special messenger to Major Anderson, that no fur- 
ther intercourse between the Fort and the city would be permitted. Further 
notes passed between him and Montgomery imtil the twelfth, when, by direction 
from the rebel War Secretary, L. P. Walker, Beauregard demanded of Major An- 
derson that he state the time at which, as indicated by himself in a previous note, 
he would evacuate, and that he would not use his guns against the rebels, and in 
case this demand were refused, Beauregard was ordered to open fire. On the 
morning of the twelfth, he telegraphed that the demand had been refused, and ac- 
cordingly he opened fire at half-past four a.m. The reply of Major Anderson, 
however, was to the effect that he would evacuate at noon of the fifteenth, if not 
previously supplied or otherwise ordered, and that, meanwhile, he would not use 
his guns unless compelled. Seventeen mortars and thirty large guns, mostly 
columbiads, opened fire, but the garrison of the Fort, to avert any possibility that 
the historian or the world should be in doubt as to which side began the fire, 
quietly breakfasted as usual. They were then divided into three reliefs, each of 
which was to work the guns four hours, and the Fort opened fire at seven A.M. 
During the day fires broke out three times in the Fort, and the bombardment con- 
tinued on the part of the rebels throughout the night. The next' day, the officers' 
quarters took fire, and the object of making resistance being attained, the flag was 
lowered and the Fort surrendered about one in the afternoon. On the fourteenth 
of April, Beauregard issued an order, in which he congi-atulated the troops under 
his command "on the brilliant success which has crowned their gallantry by 
the reduction of the stronghold in the harbor of Charleston," after a bombardment 
of thirty-three hours. 

About the twenty-eighth of May, he retired from the command at Charles- 



G. T. BEAUREGARD. 175 

ton, and on the first of June received the fruits of his success by assuming the 
command of the rebel army -at Manassas Junction. At that time he issued his 
notorious " Beauty and Booty " proclamation, which was entitled " A Proclama- 
tion to the People of the Counties of Loudon, Fairfax, and Prince William," and 
• began thus : "A reckless and unprincipled tyrant has invaded your soil. Abra- 
ham Lincoln, regardless of all moral, legislative, and constitutional restriction, has 
thrown his abominable hordes among you, who are murdering and imprisoning 
3^our citizens, confiscating and desti'oying your property, and committing other 
acts of insolence and outrage too shocking and revolting to humanity to be 
enumerated. All rules of civilized warfare are abandoned, and they pi-oclaim by 
their acts, if not on their banners, that their war-cry is Beauty and Booty. All 
that is dear to man — your honor and that of your wives and daughters, your for- 
tunes and your lives — are involved in this momentous contest." 

A letter from Jefferson Davis to him, dated at Manassas, July twenty-first, 
confers on him the rank of General. A bulletin of the twenty-eighth, signed by 
Beauregard, with Joe Johnston, is somewhat inflated and bombastic in its tone. 
His report of the battle of Bull Eun in full was not made pixblic at the time, al- 
though a synopsis of it appeared in the Richmond journals. He states that for 
some days previous he urged in vain that pemiission be gi-anted him to order the 
j unction of Johnston's forces with his own, which junction finally carried the day 
and caused the rout of the National forces. He remarks that the retirement of 
the rebels from Fairfax immediately previous to the engagement on the eight- 
eenth is the first instance recorded of volunteers retiring before an engagement, 
with a view of giving battle in another position. The forces under his command 
he sets down at eighteen thousand on the eighteenth of July, increased on the 
twenty-first to twenty-seven thousand. The killed on the rebel side he states at 
three hundred and ninety-three, and the wounded at one thousand two hundred. 
His excuse afterward rendered to the rebel Congress for the evacuation of Manas- 
sas in March, 1862, was that he lacked, and had been for a long time unavailLngly 
trying to obtain supplies and men. 

On the fifth of March, 1862, he assumed command of the Mississippi army, 
associated with Albert Sidney Johnston, Bragg, Polk, Pillow, Cheatham, and 
others. The confederate troops were collected at Corinth, Miss., and on the sixth 
of April occurred the battle of Shiloh or Pittsburgh Landing. The Federal forces 
on the Sunday, the first day, numbered nearly forty-eight thousand ; twenty -five 
thousand from General Buell, and eight thousand under General Wallace, joined 
them Sunday evening. The loss was estimated at one thousand seven hundred 
and thirty-five killed, seven thousand eight hundred and eighty -two wounded, and 
three thousand nine hundred and fifty-six prisoners ; total, thirteen thousand five 
hundred and seventy-three. The rebel forces were estimated at sixty-three thou- 



176 G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

sand ; and their losses at one thousand seven hundred and twenty-eight killed, 
eight thousand and twelve wounded, nine hundred and fifty-nine missing ; total, 
ten thousand six hundred and ninety-nine. On the twenty-ninth of May, Corinth 
was evacuated in great haste, while the forces of General Halleck were lying 
before it. 

September twenty-fourth, 1862, Beauregard was assigned to the command of 
the Department of South-Carolina and Georgia. On the sixth of November, he 
issued an order directing all non-combatants to leave Charleston, " with all their 
movable property, including slaves," in order " to avoid embarrassments and de- 
lays in case a sudden necessity should arise for the removal of the entire popula- 
tion." On the thirty-first of January, 1863, he issued a somewhat bombastic pro- 
clamation on the occasion of the attempt to disperse the blockading fleet by means 
of Ingraham's " musquito " vessels, in which he declared " the blockade by the 
United States of the said city of Charleston, S. C, to be raised by a superior force 
of the confederate States, from and after this thirty-first day of January, 1863." 
This was signed by himself and D. N. Ingi-aham, but the fleet thus declared to 
have been dispersed and destroyed quietly returned to its former position almost 
before the inhabitants of the city were through with their congratulations over its 
destruction. 

Since that time, Beauregard has remained at Charleston quiet during its long 
and weary siege. Its elaborate defences have been mostly or largely constructed 
under his direction, and the city has profited by his engineering ability, which is 
by no means inconsiderable. His success at Fort Sumter, coming at the time when 
the South, and South-Carolina in particular, was in the first fever-heat of warlike 
spirit, gave his name a prestige which it did not altogether deserve. At Charles- 
ton he did only what no man could have failed to do, with such odds in his 
favor ; but the man who did that was the great military idol for the time. After 
the battle of Bull Run his hold on the popular favor had a different basis, for that 
battle filled the South with the wildest elation, in which they saw justified the 
old boast that one Southerner could whip five Yankees, and read the sure sign 
that they had henceforward only to march and give battle in order to conquer and 
put to flight. But the next nine months failed to bring the advance, and March 
brought a retirement from the scene of their first triumph ; Beauregard gave place 
not long after to Lee, and he has sunk to a lower position. He has the wily 
characteristics which traditionally belong to his mongrel blood. In misrepresenta- 
tion, specious and indefinite charges, and efii-ontery which almost is unconscious of 
itself, he is equalled only by Jefferson Davis himself; while for attempts at "fir- 
ing the Southern heart" no one has approached him, and the people of the 
North give him the distinction of being, of all the rebel leaders and helpers, the 
most magnificent liar. 




li ') 




.MA,r am r;m p hkintzklman 



SAMUEL P. HEi:^TZELMAIT. 

SAMUEL P. HEINTZELMAN was born at Manlieim, Lancaster County, 
Pennsylvania, in 1806, of an old family. Although his name indicates 
German origin, his ancestors had been long in this country. In 1826, at the age 
of twenty, he graduated from the Military Academy at West-Point as brevet 
second lieutenant. Next he became gecond lieutenant, and was transferred to the 
Second infantry ; then first lieutenant ; captain in 1833 ; assistant commissary in 
1836 ; assistant quartermaster and captain in 1838 ; and as captain served in the 
quartermaster's department in Florida during the Creek war. Twenty years after 
leaving West-Point — in 18-16 — he was still but a captain. Congress having 
passed a bill separating the quartermaster's department from the line of the army, 
he resigned his staff position, and was directly ordered to Mexico as captain in his 
old regiment, the Second infantry. Having acquitted himself with distinction at 
the battle of Huamontalo — long ago forgotten — he was brevetted as major. This 
was in 1847, and in the following year he was ordered to California and assigned to 
the command of the Southern District of that State, General Hitchcock being com- 
mander of the department. On reaching the Pacific coast, he found disafiection 
toward our Government existing among the Spanish population, and the Yumas, 
Maricopas, and other powerful tribes of Indians, were busy in depredations and 
murders committed upon emigrants on the plains. In order to put an e d to 
these practices, he was ordered to establish a post at the junction of the Colorado 
and Gila Kivers, and, in the language of the order, " to take the necessary mea- 
sures to protect American and Mexican citizens from Indian hostilities and depre- 
dations, and compel the Indians to respect American arms by making manifest to 
them, as much as possible, your power and justice." Toward the close of 1851, 
he established the post since known as Fort Yuma, but this gamson underwent 
such sTiffering that for a time he returned to San Diego. In December of the same 
year he organized an expedition which, by a rapid march into the hostUe coun- 
try, succeeded, after a brief struggle, in capturing a large body of Indians. Four 
of the most troublesome of the prisoners were tried by court-martial and shot on 
the very scene of their capture. Of this affair General Hitchcock thus addressed 
Major Heintzelman in official dispatches to the War Department : " I congratulate 
you on the successful termination of the long and tedious warfare with the Yumas, 



178 SAMUEL P. HEINTZELMAN. 

the progress of wliicli has been attentively watched from the first. My entire 
assurance that every measure would be taken by you calculated to secure the ob- 
ject of jour presence in that country has been fully realized. No more important 
service has been rendered by the troops on the Pacific coast than that just accom- 
plished under your direction. The General is persuaded that not only a vast ex- 
penditure both of blood and treasure has been spared the country, but that the 
peace of the southern part of the State of California has been effectually secured 
by it." In another place and connection General Hitchcock thus expresses him- 
self: "To the energy, valor, and perseverance of Major Heintzelman, in command 
of the Southern Department of the State, is due the credit of sui^pressing what 
was likely to be a war of long duration." 

From the close of 1851 to 1854, most or all of Heintzelman's time was passed 
at the most distant of all army posts, at the confluence of the Gila and Colorado 
Rivers, but in 1855 with his family in the Atlantic States. Shortly before the 
close of Mr. Fillmore's administration, he was nominated to the Senate as brevet 
lieutenant-colonel, "for meritorious conduct in command of an expedition against 
the Yuma Indians," but the adjournment of Congress prevented action upon this 
nomination at that time, and it was not till 1855 that he was advanced from the 
brevet majority, in which he had done so much for the country and his own repu- 
tation, to the position of major in the First infantry. Following upon this ap- 
pointment came an interregnum of quiet at Newport Barracks, Kentucky, till in 
1857 he was ordered to join his regiment, which was then serving in Texas under 
General Twiggs. The difficulty with Cortinas broke out, and that marauder was 
ravaging the country about the Rio Grande, threatening the most serious conse- 
quences. Major Heintzelman was ordered by Twiggs from Camp Yerde to take 
command of the forces on the Rio Grande. It was not easy to find the enemy 
and conquer him with only infantry, but he was at last overtaken and compelled 
to fight. After a severe engagement, Cortinas fled to Mexico, leaving some two 
hundred dead on the field. It was an effectual and abiding lesson, and on the 
twentieth of June, 1860, General Scott transmitted the official report of the affair, 
adding the following comment : " This, is a report of a brilliant affair in which 
Major Heintzelman distinguished himself, as he has often done many years before. 
I beg to ask a brevet for him." 

In the winter of 1860-61, in the distant solitude of Camp Yerde, both officers 
and men were anxiously looking at the threatening clouds in the Northern hori- 
zon, feeling (as one expressed it) " as if God were dead." The treachery of Gene- 
ral Twiggs surrendered the army in Texas on February eighteenth, 1861, and the 
officers and men were paroled. Heintzelman escaped by having taken advantage 
of the retirement of his lieutenant-colonel to procure leave of absence, and being at 
Washington in the spring of 1861, he attended the inauguration of President Lin- 



■SAMUEL P. HEINTZELMAN. 179 

coin. During all the portentous and despairing months that signalized the open- 
ing of the new administration, his acknowledged military ability and sterling 
loyalty made him the confidential adviser of officers at Washington. In April of 
that year, he was stationed for a short time at Governor's Island, New-York harbor, 
and early in May he was ordered to "Washington as Acting Inspector-General. A 
day or two after the occupation of Arlington Heights, he received a commission 
as colonel of the Seventeenth United States infantry, the commission bearing date 
May fourteenth. This regiment was a part of the new addition to the regular 
army, and was then in process of organization. Heintzelman was assigned to the 
command of the forces at Alexandria, and at the disaster of Bull Run, on the 
twenty-first of July following, he commanded the extreme right wing of McDow- 
ell's anny. Undisciplined troops as those were, it was necessary to show them an 
inspiring example ; and accordingly Heintzelman exposed himself fi-eely, taking 
part personally in every movement, and late in the day of that Sunday, while 
leading the Brooklyn Fourteenth in a desperate effort to recover the lost fortunes 
of the field, he was severely wounded by a ball near the elbow. K he dismount- 
ed, faintness might prevent his remounting, yet he could not consent to leave the 
field ; so, meeting Surgeon King of the army, he had the bullet removed without 
stirring from the saddle, then placed his Q.Ym in a sling and went on, rallying his 
straggling troops into the best order he migHt, and slowly falling back on Alex- 
andria. Toward noon of " blue Monday " he reached his own house in Washing- 
ton, and fell to the floor as he crossed the threshold, having received his wound 
fifteen hours before, and having sat twenty-eight hours continuously in the saddle. 
Not long after this trial of his strength and courage, he was made a brigadier-gen- 
eral of volunteers, and in October he was assigned to the command of the left wing 
of the army of the Potomac, but nothing of moment occurred during the follow- 
ing winter. -On the eighth of March, 1862, the army was reorganized and formed 
into five corps, and Heintzelman took the Third, which consisted of his old divi- 
sion, then commanded by General Hancock, who was relieved in front of York- 
town, and subsequently by Keamy ; of Hooker's division ; and of the division of 
Fitz-John Porter. The history of this corps is a history of fighting. About the 
middle of March, the array of the Potomac embarked for the Peninsula, and 
Heintzelman's corps was the first to land- and the first to advance on Yprktown ; 
being encamped near the heaviest rebel works, they also famished most of the 
working parties of the season. Yorktown having been evacuated. Porter's divi- 
sion was detached fi'om Heintzelman's corps, which was ordered in pursuit of the 
retreating rebels. On the fifth of May, 1862, Heintzelman fought the fiercely- 
contested battle of Williamsburgh, General Sumner, his ranking officer, being but 
slightly engaged. 

The army advanced on Eichmond, and after the Chickahominy was crossed, 



180 SAMUEL P. HEINTZELMAN. 

Heintzelman's command, was doubled, both the Third and the Fifth corps being 
now assigned to him. The 'bloody week of battles soon came. The retreat to the 
banks of the James Eiver began with the repulse at Gaines's Mills, and ended with 
Malvern Hill. At Gaines's Mills the right of the army received a severe check, 
and was ordered to commence a flank movement on the James. The rebel opin- 
ion of Gaines's Mills may be gathered from the following extract from an account 
of the Peninsular campaign, written by a Prussian officer in the rebel service : 
" Already had two generals of the four hostile brigades been left by their men, and 
it was believed that all was over with McClellan's entire army, when at this peril- 
ous crisis General Heintzelman appeared with hisnilivision, and again brought the 
battle to a stand. "With great ability and gallantry he repulsed the onset of our 
troops, and at once ordered the organization of the beaten and fugitive brigades. 
But it was found impossible to restore order to those confixsed and intimidated 
masses. They bore their officers along with them, and rushed on in wild disorder 
and flight. General Heintzelman saw himself compelled to abandon his position, 
and, like an ox, with head down, ready to receive an attack at any moment, he 
di-ew slowly back to the Ghickahominy." 

Following this came the seven days' fighting. Heintzelman was at Savage 
Station ; at Glendale, where he was wounded in the leg, but retained his com- 
mand ; at Malvern Hill and others ; and wherever his troops were engaged they 
fought successfully and well. 

Upon the arrival of the army at Harrison's Landing, its painful retreat being 
over, Heintzelman was promoted to a Major-Generalship, and when he arrived at 
Yorktowu he was ordered with his corps to report to General Pope in the Depart- 
ment of Virginia. On the twentieth of August he embarked, and on the twenty- 
sixth his troops were already in position, protecting the raihoad to the Eappahan- 
nock. But a little later, the right of Pope's anny having been tutaed by the 
rebels and his line of communication having been cut off, Heintzelman was ordered 
to reopen the line with Hooker's division. The rebels were formed in force at 
Kettle Eun, and were foiling back on the plains of Manassas, when they were 
overtaken by Heintzelman on the twenty-ninth of August, and he immediately 
engaged them, being then in command of the left wing, and toward the close of 
the day succeeded in driving them from their first strong position. The thirtieth 
arrived, and he still held his position, but the centre at length gave way, and he 
was ordered to fall back on Centreville, as he had fallen back on the same place 
more than a year previous. On this retreat, a part of General Hooker's com- 
mand-^General Philip Kearny's division — distinguished itself at Chantilly. 

Thereupon Heintzelman's corps mai'ched back to the capital, but when he 
arrived at Fort Lyon, his former winter headquarters, only abovit five thousand 
out of the original twenty thousand men of the old force on the Potomac answered 



SAMUEL P. HEINTZELMAN. 181 

to their names ; the rest had melted away in the trials under this fighting General. 
Not long after, Heintzelman was assigned to the command of all the forts south 
of the Potomac ; McClellan being in command of the defences of Washington 
itself. At the beginning of the Maryland campaign McClellan was succeeded by 
Banks, and when Banks commenced the organization of his Gulf expedition, 
Heintzelman succeeded to the defences at Washington, where he still remains. 

The complimentary epithet which shortens the name of General Hooker, in 
the mouth of the i^eople, into the familiar " Fighting Joe," belongs in at least an 
equal degi-ee to General Heintzelman. If he has not the dash and impetuosity of 
the former, he is yet in the completest sense of the word, a fighter. Though an old 
soldier, whose life was given to the military service in the beginning, it happened 
that he, as well as too many others, realized the mingled sarcastic humor and pathos 
of the couplet which says that " the army is hard service, boys — ^promotions very 
slow." They were slow to him, for in twenty years of hard service he rose no 
higher than captain. Yet his work in California was of a highly important char- 
acter, and certainly indicated in him an ability for planning for which the present 
war has as yet given him no opportunity. In this he has not so much directed as 
executed, and in the fighting positions, and again in the most hotly-contested spots 
of those, his corps and himself have always been found. History sometimes 
brings out and emblazons for ever some whom the laurel of the day has never 
crowned ; and so she will do for Heintzelman, without snatching a single leaf 
from the leaders under whom he fought ; for, honoring the heads that planned, 
she will honor also the hands that fought. 

The rough name of this General, and his very appearance — rugged, virile, 
and wiry — ■ declare him a soldier trained in all severe and masculine experiences. 
Perhaps rude in his phrase and little blessed with the set forms of speech ; 
perhaps not a soldier in the chivalric idea, which, however, hardly belongs to our 
day. No one would dream of likening him to Philip Sidney, in the qualities 
which have made the name of the latter a perpetual lingering fragrance in the 
pages of history, though he did nothing ; nor was Heintzelman gifted with much 
in common with Bayard, the soldier and likewise the first gentleman in France 
although, like Bayard, he was without fear and without reproach. Who does not 
love and admire a rose for smelling sweet ? Yet who thinks of praising the rose 
on that account ? Sweetness is an essential characteristic of its life, which it can- 
not avoid or produce. And the graceful accomplishments, the sweet and gentle 
temper, the courtly and polished manner of Sidney were things which history 
takes note of in a passing way and marks as illustrative of the original meaning 
in tire term " gentleman ;" yet the world at large knows Sidney only by the cup 
of water which he denied himself, when wounded on the field, and gave to the 
soldier who needed it more. There is not that to be recorded of Heintzelman : 



182 



SAMUEL P. HEINTZELMAN. 



but it cannot be forgotten liow be found a band of music, and with the first 
notes of the " Star-Spangled Banner " re'inspirited, for another charge, our 
scattered and broken troops at the battle of Williamsburgh, May fifth, 1862, 
which begun the Peninsula campaign. It was a happy thought of the moment, 
but was also a touch of nature which might have befitted Sidney or Bayard. 
The rough soldier whom war had battered and owned all his life, showed here, by 
a genuine act of the heart, that he was a man still, and would be always. 




GEN'-OTlNr\- A ull.LMDHE. 



QTJI^CY ADAMS GILLMOEE. 

QUINCY ADAMS GILLMORE, Major in the regular army and Major-Gene- 
ral of volunteers, was born in the town of Black River, Loraine County, 
Ohio, February twenty-eighth, 1825. He obtained his elementary education at 
Elyria, Ohio, but receiving an unsolicited appointment of a cadetship at the West- 
Point Military Academy, he entered that institution in June, 1845, at the age of 
twenty, and graduated in 1849 at the head of his class. 

Leaving the Academy, young Gillmore was brevetted a second lieutenant of 
engineers on the twelfth of July, 1849. July first, 1856, he was promoted to be 
a first lieutenant ; to a captaincy August sixth, 1861 ; and to a major-generalship 
in June, 1863. 

During the three years from 1849 to 1852, he was employed as assistant en- 
gineer on the fortifications in Hampton Roads, Virginia ; the following years, 
from 1852 to 1856, he was in the department of practical engineering at West- 
Point ; and the remaining five years, till 1861, he passed as agent for the engineer 
department in New-York City. During his residence at West-Point, he was en- 
gaged in a series of interesting and novel experiments, to determine the breaching 
power of the various projectiles and the strength of the various materials for forti- 
fications then in use. In order to record more permanently the results of these 
experiments, he had recourse to the photographic art, which was at that time in 
its beginning in this countiy, and took photographs of the effect of every import- 
ant shot. These experiments are now interesting as showing his jDreparations, 
long ago made, for the marvellous achievements in breaching efiected on Forts 
Pulaski and Sumter. 

In October, 1861, he was appointed Chief Engineer to Brigadier-General T. 
W. Sherman, commanding the Port Royal expedition, and he constructed the 
present defences of Hilton Head Island, after its capture and occupation by the 
force under General Sherman. He was subsequently placed in command of the 
troops on Tybee Island, for the purpose of directing operations against Fort Pu- 
laski, and the breaching of that Fort, and its surrender on the eleventh of April, 
1862, form the first of the prominent successes by which he is chiefly known. 
April twenty-eighth, 1862, he was appointed Brigadier-General, but on account of 
impaired health he was obliged to withdi-aw from the field temporarily. In Sei> 



184 Q. A. GILLMORE. 

tember, 1862, he was ordered to the department of the Ohio, and some time after- 
ward was assigned to the command of the military district of Central Kentucky, 
with his headquarters at Lexington. On the thirtieth of March, in the follow- 
ing year, he fought the battle of Somerset, Kentucky, by which the rebels were 
totally driven from the central portion of the State. On the tenth of July, 
being sent to Charleston, he succeeded in effecting a landing on Moms Island, on 
the south side of the harbor, capturing the rebel cannon and possessing himself 
of the fortifications on the south side, thus obtaining the necessary preliminary 
foothold for the conduct of future operations, and accomplishing this important 
step with a total loss, in killed, wounded, and missing, of only forty. On the 
twenty -third of August, Fort Sumter was demolished and " crushed into a shape- 
less and harmless mass of ruins " by batteries located at a distance of more than 
two miles, which threw their projectiles over the heads of the garrisons of the in- 
tervening fortifications of Wagner and Gregg. 

On the seventh of September, Fort Wagner was taken. To this achievement 
General Halleck principally refers in his last annual report, in which he uses 
these words: "General Gillraore's operations have been characterized by great 
professional skill and boldness. He has overcome diflSculties almost unknown in 
modern sieges. Indeed, his operations on Morris Island constitute a new era in 
the science of engineering and gunnery." 

The following temperate and carefully prepared article, which appeared as 
editorial in a prominent New- York journal, may justly be quoted here as a good 
resume of these operations : 

" It (the taking of Wagner) was like the bombardment of Pulaski in this one 
respect^it was undertaken without the sanction, and indeed in defiance of all the 
settled policy and supposed methods of warfare. The difficulties, to a military 
man, appeared insurmountable, but General Gillmore nevertheless undertook to 
evade and overcome them. Fort Wagner is located on a broad part of the island ; 
it can be approached only over a narrow strip of sandy beach, not more than 
twenty yards wide, and the front which it thus presents to a besieging party is 
two hundred and fifty yards in length. 'The difficulties attending its reduction 
by land approaches, and which are quite novel in the history of sieges, may be 
thus enumerated : First. The work was not, and could not he, invested ; its com- 
munications with Charleston were open in the rear, and it was therefore of little 
use to dismount its guns, as the enemy were thus able to keep the armament at 
its maximum strength and to repair during the night-time the injuries of the day. 
Second. The entire garrison of the Fort was kept in bomb-proof shelters, and be- 
yond the reach of any kind of artillery. Third. It xvas (before Wagner taught us 
better) a maxim of engineering that the besiegers must envelop at least one side 
of the work by the usual zig-zag apj) roaches, and of a depth sufficient to protect 



Q. A. GILLMORE. 185 

the men. To comply witla this rule was impossible ; as, if attempted at all, they 
would have to be dug up the narrow and shallow strip of sand beach, affording 
but two feet of depth and a front not exceeding one eighth as great as that of the 
enemy. 

"It is now evident that General Gillmore met these unusual requirements in 
a manner as simple as it was skilful and bold, and undoubtedly he would have 
carried out the whole of his original plan, had not a sense of imminent danger 
caused the enemy to run away from the final assault. The work was approached 
in the usual method by zig-zag, but limited in depth and length to the shallow- 
ness and narrowness of the strip of beach. Throughout the progress of the ap- 
proaches, especially as the besiegers neared the Fort, the sap was exposed to direct 
and flanking fires from sharp-shooters, and from the guns of Wagner throwing 
grape and canister. , The batteries on James Island, with their long-range guns, 
took our trenches in flank and rear, and those on Sullivan's Island played an un- 
ceasing fire upon t1ie patient and persistent workers in that shallow beach, until 
the sap reached so near to Wagner that these distant batteries ceased a fire which 
was- as likely to hit friend as foe. The ditch of Wagner was reached on the night 
of the sixth of September. The assault was ordered for the next morning at low 
tide. We have described the difficulties and dangers of the task. Let us now 
briefly state the means employed to evade them : 

" First. A calcium light of great power was used to illumine the enemy's 
works at night. This aided the fire of our sharp-shooters, while it dazzled the 
sight of those of the enemy, and enabled us to prevent their making repau's. 

" Second. An artillery fire was kept up night and day, throwing shell over 
the heads of our sappers, thereby keeping the enemy in their bomb-jjroof shelters. 
So accurate and terrific was the artillery, especially the mortar fire, that our sap- 
pers repeatedly got out of the trench and looked with perfect impunity into the 
ditch of Wagner. 

"Third. The trenches were pushed forward Jy Fort Wagner on the channel 
front, thereby masking all its guns, and also insuring that an assaulting column 
would be exposed to no fire except musketry. 

" All these novel conditions were prescribed by General Gillmore, and exe- 
cuted with admirable precision and courage. How well they solved the difficult 
problem we already know. The simplicity of the method only enhances its merit. 
Had the enemy further contested our advance, it was intended to piit the assault- 
ing column in trenches at nine o'clock on the morning of the seventh, and keep 
up the mortar fire on the Fort, so that the garrison could not emerge from their 
shelter until the assaulting column mounted the parapet. This assault was to be 
made on the east, north, and west faces of Wagner by passing the Fort on the sea 
(or east) face at low water. 



186 Q. A. GILLMORE. 

"But when the morning came the enemy were not there. They had no 
stomach for another fight with the intrepid and resolute foe with whom they had 
struggled in the ditch and on the parapets in the midnight assaults of the previous 
month. They left during the night, having previously applied slow matches to 
the magazine of both Wagner and Gregg, with the intention of blowing them up. 
This intention our men frustrated. 

"Pulaski, Somerset, the landing on Moms Island, the demolition of Sum- 
ter — Wagner. ' The greatest is behind.' Whatever may be thought of the many 
deeds which may illuminate the sad story of this great rebellion, the capture 
of Wagner and Gregg by General Gillmore will be regarded as the greatest tri- 
umph of engineering that history has yet recorded." 

The operations attending the siege of Fort Pulaski, and the longer and yet 
unfinished siege of Charleston, have an interest aside from their success or failure. 
They were a series of great experiments iipon the strength of building materials 
and the effectiveness of newly-devised projectiles. Fort Pulaski was built by the 
most liberal expenditure of time and money, and seemed impregnable so far as 
any work of brick or stone could be so. Its brick walls were impregnable against 
old ordnance, but the rifled guns which formed the Tybee Island batteries bored 
through them in a few hours, and it is very remarkable that General Gillmore had 
experimented at West-Point, ten years before, upon the very kind of brick of 
which Pulaski was composed, and hence had but to reproduce, practically and on 
a vaster and immortal scale, his former almost unnoticed experiments. Indeed, 
he may be said to have taken Fort Pulaski ten years ago at West-Point. 

These operations were wonderful enough, as illustrating the extent to which 
improved rifled ordnance will soon revolutionize the old methods of warfare, but 
the breaching of Sumter is equally remarkable. Setting aside the engineering 
triumph of erecting batteries in sand marshes, there was exhibited at Sumter the 
extraordinary spectacle of breaching a fort by guns located at a distance of more 
than two miles, throwing their shot over the heads of the garrisons of two inter- 
vening hostile forts. But upon Fort- Wagner all ordnance had less effect, and 
consequently some new method of approach must be devised, and it was devised — 
novel and effective. 

The Monitor and the Merrimac furnished the first crucial test of the plan of 
plating vessels. This demonstrated the resisting power of iron-plating rather than 
the power of large guns, and the name of the projector of the little turreted 
" cheese-box on a raft " will be always connected with the new system of ship- 
building. The operations on Tybee and Moms Islands were, in like manner, the 
first real test of rifled ordnance upon fortifications, and proved that simple earth 
is better against shot than either brick or stone. They showed that the smooth- 



Q. A. GILLMORE. 



187 



bore gun of small weight and calibre must hereafter be replaced by rifled ord- 
nance, sighted and fired with the accuracy of the rifle itself ; and that earth-works 
had a more obstinate power of resistance than any other material yet tried. 
These operations form really the most important and instructive portions of the 
war, and the time is not distant when they and their author will be rated at the 
full measure of their value. 



ROBEET EDMIJl^D LEE. 

GENERAL EGBERT E. LEE, the junior officer of that grade in the rebel 
army, was born in Virginia in 1808, upon the Arlington estates. His 
father was Harry Lee, the friend and eulogist of General Washington. Robert 
received a liberal education, was admitted to the Military Academy at West-Point 
in 1825, and, on the thirtieth of June, 1829, graduated second in his class. He 
entered the army as Second Lieutenant of engineers on the first of July, 1829, and 
was, in 1835, apjDointed assistant astronomer for the demarcation of the new 
boundary line between the States of Ohio and Michigan. September twenty -first, 
1836, he was promoted to a first lieutenancy, and on July seventh, 1838, to a cap- 
taincy. During 1844, he was a member of the Board of Visitors to the Military 
Academy, and a member of the Board of Engineers from September eighth, 1845, 
to March thirteenth, 1848. When General Wool was in command of Mexico in 

1846, Captain Lee was Chief Engineer of that division, and remained in that posi- 
tion during the war. He was brevetted Major, April eighteenth, 1847, for " gal- 
lant conduct at Cerro Gordo ;" Lieutenant-Colonel, August twentieth, 1847, for 
"gallantry at Contreras and Churvibusco ;" and Colonel, September thirteenth, 

1847, for " gallant and meritorious conduct " at the battle of Chapultepec. In this 
engagement he was wounded. At the end of the campaign he was again appoint- 
ed, July twenty-first, 1848, a member of the Board of Engineers, and on the first 
of September, 1852, was made Superintendent of the Military Academy, which 
position he held until March third, 1855, when he received his full commission of 
Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second cavalry. The regiment was sent to Texas, but 
Lieutenant-Colonel Lee remained upon his estates at Arlington, and March six- 
teenth, 1861, was promoted to the colonelcy of the First cavalry. On the twenty- 
fifth of April, 1861, he resigned his commission and joined the rebels. 

It will thus be seen that his promotion was unusually rapid, and the positions 
assigned him were such as permitted him to lead a life of comparative ease upon 
the estates which he inherited from his family. He was doubtless a diligent 
student, and the advantages of a liberal education, together with the positions he 
has held, have made him the ablest general in the rebel forces. Upon the organi- 
zation of the rebel army. Colonel Lee was made General, holding a commission of 




i!e--VA.H.Bi-s'»e-- 



M\J. GEK ROBERT E. LEE. 
■confederate- army. 



:;ui &P PUTJaM. 



ROBERT EDMUND LEE. 189 

tlie same date as Josepli E. Johnston, P. G. T. Beauregard, and Samuel Cooper, 
ranking third in this list. 

General Lee was assigned to the command in West- Virginia, after the 
death of General Garnett at Eich Mountain, in August, 1861. His first engage- 
ment was at Cheat Mountain, September twelfth, 1861. He advanced upon the 
National forces, commanded by General Reynolds, with nine tliousand men and 
twelve f)ieces of artillery, but was defeated in his manoeuvres and compelled to 
retire, losing heavily in killed, wounded, and prisoners. His aid, Colonel John 
A. Washington, was killed in this engagement. This battle was the result of one 
of General Rosecrans's combinations while operating against Floyd, and Eeynolds's 
orders were to hold Lee in check while General Rosecrans engaged Floyd. Loe 
failed in his first engagement in consequence of neglecting the proper moment for 
making an attack. His plans were submitted to the military authorities at Rich- 
mond subsequently, and he was absolved from all blame for his defeat. After 
this engagement. General Lee proceeded to the Kanawha region, for the purpose 
of relieving Floyd and Wise. The former was at Meadow BlufP, and the latter 
near the Big Sewell. Lee took position with Wise, and held his lines for fifteen 
days behind strong intrenchments, when finally General Rosecrans, not succeed- 
ing in drawing him into an open field, returned to his old position on the Gauley. 
Lee made no attempt to follow Rosecrans. General Lee retained command in 
West- Virginia, but did not again meet the Union forces. He was, in December, 
transfen-ed from this dejDartment, and engaged upon the defences of South-Carolina 
and Georgia. When Joseph E. Johnston was wounded at the battle of Seven 
Pines, June first, 1862, he succeeded to the command of the rebel army in Virginia. 
General Lee adojoted the plans of his predecessor, and, being reenforced by 
" Stonewall " Jackson's corps, took the offensive. The initial movements to the 
seven days' battles were planned by Lee, including the demonstration of Jackson 
upon Cold Harbor. The battle of Malvern Hill was fought under Lee's jjersonal 
direction. When he was satisfied that General McClellan's army had been with- 
drawn from the Peninsula, he transfeiTed the main body of the rebel army to the 
vicinity of Orange Court-House, where he so arranged his corps as to employ 
Jackson and Longstreet in an effort to break the National lines of communication. 
In this he was partially successful, General Pope making a rapid retrograde move- 
ment in order to secure his lines of retreat. This manoeuvre resulted in tlie 
battles of Manassas, August twenty-ninth and thirtieth, 1862, and in the battle at 
Chantilly, which was fought while the National forces were in retreat for the de- 
fences of Washington. 

General Lee then prepared for the invasion of Maryland, hoping to capture 
Washington, or at least supply and reenforce his army from that Border State. 
" Stonewall " Jackson led the advance, and crossed the Potomac near Poolesville, on 



190 ROBERT EDMUND LEE. 

September fiftli, Lee following immediately after. Jackson diverged to the west 
for the purpose of investing Harper's Ferry, while Longstreet's and D. H. Hill's 
corps were placed in position to cover Jackson's operations. These movements 
resulted in the battle of South-Mountain and Crampton's Gap on the fourteenth, 
and in the surrender of Harper's Ferry on the fifteenth. General Lee then con- 
centrated his forces upon the field of Antietam to give General McClellan battle. 
The engagement took place on September seventeenth, and resulted in the defeat 
of the rebels. Under cover of a flag of truce, sent for the purpose of burying the 
dead, they withdrew and crossed the Potomac near Shepherdstown. The Na- 
tional army moved into Virginia on October twenty-sixth, when Lee retreated 
slowly and finally gained a position on the south bank of the Eapidan, where 
he was about to be engaged when General McClellan was relieved, November 
seventh. Then the army of the Potomac was removed to Falmouth, and the 
rebel army occupied the heights of Fredericksburgh opposite. An engagement 
took place here on December thirteenth, in consequence of an ineffectual effort on 
the part of General Burnside to assault the rebel position. The battle of Chan- 
cellorsville. May second and third, 1863, also resulted in a defeat, in consequence 
of General Hooker attempting to draw the rebel army from within its defences at 
Fredericksburgh and give battle in the open field. General Lee then planned his 
second invasion of Maryland, determining to accomplish it before the National 
forces could recover from their losses. On the thirteenth of June, the rebels ap- 
peared in force at Winchester and Berryville, and compelled the surrender of 
those posts ; a greater part of the gamson, however, escaping to Harper's FeiTy. 
On the fifteenth, the rebel army crossed the Potomac and occupied Hagerstown, 
Maryland, while a cavalry advance pushed on and seized Chambersburgh, Pa. 
The movements of Lee were rapid, and intended to strike at Harrisburgh if possi- 
ble. Greencastle, Scotland, McConnellsburgh, Shippensburgh, Carlisle, and Get- 
tysburgh, Pa,, were visited in turn, and immense stores of goods were obtained 
by the needy rebels. All public property was destroyed, including the extensive 
barracks at Carlisle. The army of the Potomac crossed into Maryland in pursuit 
of the invaders, and the advance entered Frederick on the twenty -first of June, 
but it was not until the twenty-seventh that the main body occupied the State in 
force. The disposition of the army was such at that time that the rebels were cut 
off from retreat, and their various corps were scattered about the country and 
liable to be attacked in detail. General Lee confessed subsequently that he was 
so far ignorant of the position of the National forces as to render his situation ex- 
tremely critical. Under these circumstances he recalled his cavalry, and proceed- 
ed to concentrate his army for an engagement. He was then in the vicinity of 
Hanover, Md., with part of his army at Gettysburgh, Pa. General Hooker was 
relieved from command June twenty-eighth, and General Meade succeeded him. 



ROBERT EDMUND LEE. 191 

The latter proceeded to caiTy out the plans wliich had been formed by his prede- 
cessor for the ensuing battle. In the course of his manoeuvres, the advance of 
the National anny, under General Sickles, met a portion of the rebels at Gettys- 
burgh on the first of July, and an engagement ensued which was the signal for the 
concentration of both armies. The next morning Lee and Meade had their com- 
mands well upon the field, and the contest was renewed all that day and the 
next ; the efforts of the rebels being an endeavor to gain possession of Cemetery 
Hill. Longstreet made a final but ineffectual attempt to obtain this eminence on 
the third day of the battle, but was repulsed with dreadful slaughter. This ended 
the engagement, and during that night the rebel army withdrew from the field, 
and on the fourth of July was in full retreat toward the Potomac. This stream 
was at that time much swollen by heavy freshets, the pontoon-bridges of the 
rebelshad been destroyed, and the situation was one exceedingly critical for them. 
But General Lee proceeded to erect a pontoon-bridge from a neighboring lumber- 
yard, and on the thirteenth of July, while Meade was debating whether or not to 
give him battle, he safely crossed his army at Falling "Waters. The next day a 
jDortion of his rear-guard was defeated at this point in a cavalry engagement. 

Thus both Lee's attemj^ts for the invasion of the North proved failures, and 
resulted in extensive loss of men and munitions of war. In both cases, however, 
he extricated himself from his somewhat ci-itical situation with extraordinary skill 
and dexterity. He completely deceived his foe in both instances, and while he 
was in reality seriously crippled, led him to believe that he was about to resume 
the offensive. The army of the Potomac crossed in pursuit of the rebels almost 
immediately, and the cavalry engaged the rebel rear-guard at Ashby's Gap. On 
the twenty-ninth, however, all pursuit ceased, and the army of the Potomac rested 
on the line of the Rappahannock ; the rebels taking position on the Eapidan. 
Affairs were comparatively quiet in both armies until September twelfth, when 
General Meade drove the rebel forces from Culpeper. The enemy had meanwhile 
been reduced in strength by the withdrawal of Longstreet to reenforce the rebel 
army in Georgia. Notwithstanding this disadvantage, however, so strongly were 
the rebels intrenched that an advance beyond Culpeper was considered impracti- 
cable. Two corps were withdrawn from the army of the Potomac September 
twenty-eighth, which made the strength of each army about equal. October 
tenth, a skirmish at Robertson's Ford disclosed to General Meade the fact that the 
rebels were attempting a bold flank movement for the purpose of getting in his 
rear. In order to prevent such a catastrophe the National forces were withdrawn 
so entirely that the scheme of the enemy was completely frustrated. Bristoe's 
Station was the only engagement which resulted from this movement, and in that 
the rebels were defeated. The army of the Potomac moved back as far as Manas- 
sas, when, finding that the rebels had commenced to retrace their steps, it was 



192 ROBERT EDMUXD LEE. 

advanced, and on tlie twenty-first rested again upon its old lines on the Rappalian- 
nock. This movement was one of exceeding boldness, and displayed high strategic 
sldll on the part of General Lee. Its early discovery caused its failure. Novem- 
ber eighth, the anny of the Potomac pushed forward across the Rapidan as far as 
Mine Eun, but the season had then so far advanced that further offensive move- 
ments were considered impracticable, and both armies went into winter quarters 
within their old lines. 

The only movement of importance which occurred was in the early part of 
February, 1864, when General Meade, with a view to attract the attention of the 
enemy from a movement up the Peninsula against Richmond, pushed forward and 
had a brief engagement beyond the Ea^jidan. Quiet was resumed, however, in a 
few days. 

General Lee spent the winter months in endeavoring to provide food and 
clothing for his army. He made earnest appeals to the Southern people for this 
purpose, and, in a general order, implored his troops to bear patiently the priva- 
tion of lunited rations for the cause in which they were engaged. In considera- 
tion of his services to the country, a number of his friends in the rebel Congress 
expressed a desire to present him with a house for his family, but he refused the 
gift, stating that they were comfortably enough off, and that the country and his 
soldiers needed the money more than he or they did. He was at this time in the 
receipt of only about one hundred dollars per month, and his family lived in two 
rented rooms in the plainest manner. Before the rebellion, he was the inheritor 
of one of the finest places in Virginia, the Arlington estate, and lived a life of 
luxury. "While he was in the service of the United States he was spared many 
of the unpleasant duties of a soldier's life, but by the rebellion he has not only 
■oeen stripped of his patrimony, but in three brief years comiDclled to rely upon 
his pay as a general to support his family in the plainest manner. 

General Lee, like " Stonewall " Jackson, has given up all for an idea, and that 
idea is his State. He has devoted his best energies to her welfare ; sacrificed all 
that was dear to him for her ; and will go down to his grave a self-sacrificing victim 
to the heresy of State rights. He has attained a high military reputation and is 
estimated as second to none in the South as a general. He is an able strategist, 
bold in his movements and rapid in executing plans well matui'ed. He sometimes 
makes mistakes, but readily sees the eiTor and extricates himself from the conse- 
quences with singular dexterity. It was undoubtedly owing to him that the two 
invasions of Maryland and Pennsylvania were executed. The last was so pre- 
cipitate that Jefferson Davis became alarmed while it was in progress lest it 
should result in irreparable disaster, and imperatively ordered him to return, stat- 
ing that it was not by his (Davis's) wish that the movement was made. The at- 
tempted flank movement in October, 1863, was a bold advance, and scarcely any 



ROBERT EDMUND LEE. 193 

one but Lee would have attempted it. Had he succeeded in his plan to get be- 
tween the army of the Potomac and Washington, he would doubtless have at- 
tempted to reenact the scenes of August, 1862, on the old battle-field of Bull Eun, 
and thus have again pushed for Maryland and Pennsylvania, with what conse- 
quences may readily be conjectured. 

General Lee is a very handsome man. He is tall, with broad shoulders, and 
courteous and dignified in his manners. He never swears, drinks, smokes, or 
chews. He generally wears a long gi-ay jacket, a high black felt hat, and blue 
trowsers tucked into a pair of long Wellington boots. He does not wear arms, 
and the ojalj insignia of his rank are three stars upon his collar. He rides a hand- 
some horse, and is esteemed neat in his dress and person. It is said that he has 
not slept in a house since he commanded the rebel army in Virginia, and declines 
all offers of hosjDitality. He is a religious man, although not so demonstrative as 
was " Stonewall " Jackson, and is a member of the Episcopal Church. In action, 
he exhibits bravery but not recklessness. He forms his plans of battle, calls his 
lieutenants around him and assigns each his post. Then he goes upon the field 
to witness the strife, and leaves to his immediate subordinates the duty of modi- 
fying any movement which circumstances might render necessary. So completely 
are his plans generally formed that he seldom has occasion to change them. On 
the second day of the battle of Gettysburgh he gave but one order and received 
but one report. On the third day, when disaster was apparent, he rode anxiously 
among his troops, encouraging them with cheering words. He spoke to all the 
wounded men who passed him, and those who were slightly hurt were bidden to 
bind their wounds .and take up their muskets. He remarked to an ofiicer : " This 
is a sad day for us. Colonel — a sad day ; but we cannot always expect to gain 
victories." , 

General Wilcox reported the disabled condition of his brigade to Lee, when 
he remarked cheerfully : " Never mind. General, all this has been my fault ; it is 
/ who have lost this fight, and you must help me out of it in the best way you 
can." His troops seemed inspired with the utmost confidence in their leader, 
and, when they passed him, cheered and said : " We've not lost confidence in the 
' old man ;' th'is day's work won't do him any harm. ' Uncle Robert ' will get us 
into Washington yet." 

The grand secret of General Lee's success, where fortune has vouchsafed it to 
him, appears to lie in the concentration of his troops. He adopted that plan as 
soon as he took command of the rebel army in Virginia, and it has scarcely ever 
failed him. Circumstances may have favored this line of tactics in some cases, 
but generally it has been adopted as part of the plan of battle without regard to 
the peculiar situation of affairs. 



WILLIAM HEKET SEWARD. 

THE Sewards are of Welsh origin. Their first home in this country was in 
Connecticut. Afterward, about 1740, a portion of the family removed to 
New-Jersey, and, later, other branches to the Southern States. One of that name 
was recently a representative in Congress from Georgia. The subject of this me- 
moir belongs to the New-Jersey branch. His grandfather was a prominent actor 
in the Eevolution. His father having received a professional education, as his 
patrimony, settled in Orange County, New-York, in 1795. The 'little village 
which he chose for his home was called Florida. It is in the town of Warwick, 
about five miles south of Goshen, of which it was once a part. The village, as its 
name imports, is as beautiful in its landscape as the scenery of the whole county 
is noble and sublime. 

AViLLiAM Henry Seward was born in the village of Florida, May sixteenth, 
1801. His father, Samuel S. Seward, held the ofiice of County Judge in Orange 
for seventeen years, and was distinguished for more than ordinary business ability, 
pursuing at the same time his profession as a physician, attending to his duties on 
the bench and engaging largely in mercantile and manufacturing enterprises. He 
died in 1849. Beside leaving a large fortune to his heirs, he endowed an academy 
in Florida with a fund of twenty thousand dollars. His wife, the mother of Wil- 
liam H., was as remarkable for generosity and amiability as her husband was for 
enterprise and industry. The son seems to have inherited the combined charac- 
teristics of his parents. From childhood he exhibited a love of knowledge, and 
an earnest inclination and taste for study. Books were his favorite companions, 
and he ran away — to school. When nine years of age, he was sent to Fanner's 
Hall Academy, at Goshen, in Orange County. There, and at an academy subse- 
quently established in his native town, he pursued his studies until his fifteenth 
year, when he entered Union College at Schenectady. " Thin, pale, sandy -vis- 
aged," as he is said to have been, there was perhaps no great promise in his ap- 
pearance, for he was persuaded to enter the Sophomore class, though upon exami- 
nation he was found qualified for the Junior. His favorite studies in college were 
rhetoric, moral philosophy, and the ancient classics. 

In the year 1819, when eighteen years of age, and while in the Senior class, 
he withdrew from college, and for about six months was engaged as a teacher at 




TioTL. \Vm . H . S E WARD 



WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD. 195 

the South. Slavery was not altogether strange to him, for he had seen some rem- 
nant of it in his native State and in his father's family — even his own nurse had 
been a negro slave ; yet his experience of life at the South tended to confirm and 
deepen a natural hostility to that form of oppression. Seward returned to his 
college and was gradviated with high honors. He was one of three commence- 
ment orators chosen by the college society to which he belonged, and the subject 
of his oration was, " The Integrity of the American Union." Thus, before he had 
attained the age of manhood, he felt his way instinctively to that cause which was 
to employ the ripened abilities of his later life. 

Soon after his gi-aduation, Mr. Seward entered the office of John Anthon, in 
New-York City, as a law student ; -completed his preparation with John Duer and 
Ogden Hoffman, in Goshen, became associated with the latter, and was admitted 
to the bar of the Supreme Court in 1822. In January of the next year, he took 
up his residence in Auburn, where he formed a business connection with the Hon. 
Elijah Miller, whose youngest daughter he mamed in 182-i. By severe industry 
he soon became possessed of an extensive and successful practice. 

He gave also considerable attention to politics. His father had been an ar- 
dent Jeffersonian Democrat. If the first prepossessions of the son were in favor 
of that party, the struggle incident to the admission of Missouri into the Union 
convinced him that subserviency to Southern influence ruled in the Democratic 
party, and he left it, avowing his unchangeable opposition to the extension of 
slavery. In October, 1824, at the age of twenty-three, he drew up the " Address 
of the Kepublican Convention of Cayuga County to the People," which was a 
prophetic exposure of the origin and designs of the Albany Regency.* General 
Jackson's election to the Presidency in 1828 dissolved the ISTational Republican 
party of "Western New- York, and thus the only opposition left to the Regency 
was the Anti-Masonic organization, and from that party Mr. Seward, in 1830, re- 
ceived the nomination to represent the seventh district in the State Senate. He 
had in 1828 been nominated for Congress by the Anti-Masons, but with his char- 
acteristic sense of fidelity, he declined, for the reason that he still belonged to the 
National Republican party. 

It was during that year that he presided over a State Convention of Young 
Men, held at Utica, to advocate the reelection of John Quincy Adams to the Pre- 
sidency. Among this assemblage of young men, remarkable alike for numbers 
and ability, Mr. Seward was at once recognized as the leading spirit ; and the 
genius he there exhibited is still vividly remembered. He was elected to the 
Senate by a majority of two thousand votes, and took his seat in January, 1831, 
probably the j^oungest member that ever entered the New-York Senate. 

Against the formidable power of the Jackson party and the Albany Regency 

* Works of W. 11. Seward, Vol. I. p. 51. 



196 WILLIAM IIENRr SEWARD. 

the opposition was. necessarily feeble ; but young Seward fearlessly entered it, and 
became its acknowledged leader. He took part in all the debates ; supported the 
common scbool system, the abolition of imprisonment for debt, and the meliora- 
tion of prison discipline. He was one of the earliest friends of the Erie Eailroad, 
and supported the Jackson administration in regard to Southern nullification. 
His first speech was on a militia bill, and he then proposed to substitute for the 
general performance of military duty the formation of volunteer uniformed com- 
panies, substantially the system now (1864) in use in the State of New- York. 
During the second session of his term, Mr. Seward spoke in favor of a resolution 
which declared the necessity of a national bank. His speech was an elaborate criti- 
cism of Jackson's objections to the renewal of the bank charter. This speech, 
with others of the same nature, concentrated an opposition in the Legislature and 
among the people, and thus gave uise to what subsequently became known as the 
Whig party. In 1833, Mr. Seward visited Europe in company with his father, 
and travelled through parts of the United Kingdom, Fi»nce, Holland, Germany, 
Switzerland, and Sardinia. From those countries he wrote home the series of 
letters subsequently published in the Albany Journal* 

Mr. Seward was nominated in September, 1834, by the Whig State Conven- 
tion as candidate for Governor of New-York. But the party was immature ; it 
had not yet won popular confidence, and its young candidate was defeated by the 
reelection of William L. Marcy. 

Upon the conclusion of the canvass, Mr. Seward resumed the practice of 
his profession, and in 1836 settled in Chautauque County, as the agent of the 
Holland Land Company. In this difficult position he established a lasting repu- 
tation as a man of business and as a wise and just arbitrator. In 1888, he was 
again nominated for Governor by the Whig party, and was elected by ten thou- 
sand majority. Govei'nor Seward's administration was one of great mark in the 
history of the State. The Anti-Rent Rebellion occurred, and was quelled ; the 
State, and with it the country, was safely carried through the threatened trouble 
of the McLeod case, without the loss of honor ; the Erie Canal was enlarged ; im- 
prisonment for debt was abolished, and every vestige of slavery removed from the 
statute-books ; the State Lunatic Asylum was established ; important election re- 
forms were effected, and reforms were also made in prison discipline, in bank laws, 
and in the law courts. Measures for the more general diffusion of education and 
to facilitate immigration were initiated. Governor Seward took ground also 
against the rendition of fugitives from justice in connection with slavery, and 
maintained his position in a correspondence with the Governor of Virginia in what 
has since been known as the " Virginia Controvers}-."! 

* See Works of W. H. Seward, Vol. III. p. 508. t See Works of W. H. Seward, VoL II. 



■WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD. 197 

It was during his administration as Governor that Mr. Seward may be said to 
have laid the foundation of the great Eepublican party, which twenty years after- 
ward triumphed in the election of Abraham Lincoln. 

Having been reelected in 1840, Governor Seward declined a renomination, 
and in 1843, upon the expiration of his second term, he retired to Auburn and re- 
sumed the practice of law. For six years he devoted himself with great assiduity 
to business, and obtained, in addition to an extensive practice in the State courts, 
a large and lucrative one in patent cases in the National courts, and was thus 
brought into association with the most distinguished jurists in the United States. 
During this period he appeared in many celebrated cases, and very conspicuously 
in the case of the negro Freeman, indicted for the murder of the Van Nest family.* 
He also pleaded gratuitously the case of John Van Zandt before the United States 
Supreme Court, charged with aiding certain fugitives in their attempt to escape 
from slavery. Hardly less celebrated was his defence of fifty citizens of Michigan, 
charged with conspiracy, a trial lasting four months. In nearly all these cases he 
not only gave his services, but in some of them he bore the heavy expenses of 
the defence. He seems to have derived his rule of conduct as a lawyer from 
Cicero: ^^ Hoc maxime officii est, id quisquam maxime opus indigeat, ita ei potissi- 
mum opitulari.^f 

In 1848, Mr. Seward earnestly supported the election of General Taylor as 
President of the United States, and canvassed in his behalf the States of New- 
York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Massachusetts. In all his speeches during the 
campaign Mr. Sewaxxl kept constantly in view the principles of the growing party 
of freedom, of which he had already come to be regarded as the leader. He bold- 
ly announced that the end and aim of that party was to abolish slavery. At 
the same time, he did not forget to declare, as the first principle in its platform, 
" our duty as American citizens to presei-ve the integrity of the Union." 

At this election a Whig majority was returned to the New- York Legislature, 
and Mr. Seward was, by common consent, named for the vacancy soon to occur in 
the United States Senate. He was elected by a vote of one hundred and twenty- 
one to thirty, and took his seat on the fourth of March, 1849, in the Thirty-first 
Congress. 

General Taylor's administration was opposed by the Southern members, in 
the apprehension that he would adopt a decided anti-slavery policy. Identified 
with such a policy, and with the support of General Taylor's administration, Mr. 
Seward became recognized as the foremost advocate of Government measures. 
But, for a consistent resistance to. the ever-hungry encroachments of the slave 

* See Works of W. H. Seward, Vol. I. p. 409. 
t " The clear point of duty is, to assist most readily those who most heed assistance." 



198 WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD. 

power, he was denounced by it and its supporters as an agitator and a dangerous 
man. In the debate on the admission of California, March eleventh, 1850, he 
spoke thus : " It is true indeed that the national domain is ours. It is true it was 
acquired by the valor and with the wealth of the whole nation. But we hold, 
nevertheless, no arbitrary power over it. "We hold no arbitrary authority over 
any thing, whether acquired lawfully or seized by usurpation. The Constitution 
regulates our stewardship ; the Constitution devotes the domain to union, to jus- 
tice, to defence, to welfare, and to libertj^ But there is a higher law than the 
Constitution, which regulates our authority over the domain and devotes it to the 
same noble purposes. The territory is a part, no inconsiderable part, of the com- 
mon heritage of mankind bestowed upon them by the Creator of the universe." 
Mr. Seward has thus been made the author of the phrase, " the higher law." 

Senator Seward took part in all the more important debates, and spoke upon 
the compromise measures of 1850,- on the public domain, on Hungarian affairs, 
in support of his own resolution of welcome to Kossuth, on the motion to declare 
the sympathy of Congress with the exiled Irish patriots O'Brien and Meagher, on 
the survey of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans, on the fisheries, and various other 
topics of national interest. Upon the close of his first Senatorial term, in 1855, 
Mr. Seward was reelected, though persistently opposed by the " American " or 
Know-Nothing party, to whose doctrines he could in no wise bend, and by tlie 
Democratic party, for his desire to restrict slavery. Toward the election of Colo- 
nel Fremont to the Presidency, in 1856, he labored zealously and effectively. 
With like fidelity he had also supported General Scott in the previous canvass. 
In an address to the people of Rochester, New-York, made in 1858, Mr. Seward, 
in reference to the collision between the two systems of labor — free and slave — 
in the United States, said : " Shall I tell you what this collision means ? They 
who think that it is accidental, unnecessary, the work of interested or fanatical 
agitators, and therefore ephemeral, mistake the case altogether. It is an irrepressi- 
ble conflict between opposing and enduring forces, and it means that the United 
States must and will, sooner or later, become either entirely a slaveholding nation 
or entirely a free-labor nation." For this phrase also, " An irrepressible conflict," 
Mr. Seward has been not less bitterly reviled and contemned than for that other 
of "the higher law," though like that it contained clearly enough a gi-eat truth. 

In 1859, in pursuance of a long-cherished desire, and in search of renewed 
health and strength somewhat impaired by long and arduous public service, Mr. 
Seward made a second and more extended visit to the Old World. 

His second Senatorial term expired March third, 1861. Only a short time 
previous to its conclusion, and when the Southern rebellion had become fully 
manifest, 'he boldly entered the contest in these words : " I avow my adherence to 
the Union — with my friends, with my party, with my State, or without either, as 



WILLIAM HENRY SE^YARD. 199 

tliey may determine ; in every event of peace or of war, with every consequence 
of honor or dishonor, of life or death." 

It is impossible in so brief a sketch as this, to do justice to the Senatorial 
career of Mr. Seward. For twelve years he stood forth in the forum of the Senate 
as the champion of Freedom and Justice, aud the advocate of every measure de- 
signed to advance the interests and welfare of the Union. He resisted with gi-eat 
jjower and eloquence the enactment of the slavery compromises of 1850, and the 
abrogation of the Missouri Compromise in 185-1. He was largely instrumental in 
bringing California and Kansas into the Union, Free States. The Pacific Railroad 
and the establishment of mail communication with Europe and Asia were, to some 
extent, measures of his own and with which he was prominently identified. His 
speeches were heard with profound respect in the Senate, while the intelligent 
portion of the people of the Republic read them with instruction and delight. 

As the Presidential election of 1860 approached, it became evident that the 
slave oligarchy was to be finally dethroned, and the party to which Mr. Seward 
had devoted his life was to be placed in power. Naturally, the people turned 
their eyes to him as the Republican candidate for the Presidency. A National 
Convention was held at Chicago in Ma}^, 1860. The first ballot in Convention 
showed one hundred and seventy-three votes for Mr. Seward, and one hundred 
and two for Mr. Lincoln, with one hundred and ninety for ten other candidates. 
On the last ballot, Mr. Seward received one hundred and eighty and ilr. Lincoln 
the combined vote of the remainder of the Convention, and was thus made the 
candidate of the Republican party. The States which persistently voted for Mr. 
Seward were Maine, Massachusetts, New- York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota. 
California, and Kansas. However much disappointed Mr. Seward's friends may 
have been, no trace of such feeling was ever betrayed by him. On the conti-ary. 
when the canvass seemed laggaixl and the result doubtful he at once, with his ac- 
customed energy, entered the field as the most eloquent and powerful advocate of 
the cause and its candidate. His speeches in Maine, Massachusetts, New-York. 
Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Kansas, dur- 
ing the campaign, roused the people, and insured a triumphant success. Immedi- 
ately after Mr. Lincoln was officially informed that he had been elected President, 
he tendered the chief place in his Cabinet to Mr. Seward. Every thing of a per- 
sonal nature conspired to lead Mr. Seward to decline any further public service. 
But it is not in his nature to shrink from a great responsibility, especially from 
one which he is charged with having himself created. 

On the fourth of March, 1861, he entered upon his duties as Secretary of 
State. Among his first public acts was an order to the Marshal of the District 
of Columbia, forbiddins^the long-acctistomed use of the jail as a place for the safe 
keeping of fugitive slaves. In April, 1862, he negotiated a treaty with Lord 



200 WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD. 

Lyons for the suf)pi'ession of the slave-trade, which was ratified with unusual 
promptness and unanimity by the respective Governments of the United States 
and Great Britain. 

In closing a despatch to Mr. Adams, dated April eighth, Mr. Seward sa.ys : 
" I have just signed, with Lord Lyori^, a treaty which I trust will be approved by 
the Senate and by the British government. If ratified, it will bring the African 
slave-trade to an end immediately and for ever. Had such a treaty been made in 
1808, there would now have been no sedition here, and no disagreement between 
the United States and foreign nations. "We are indeed suffering deeply in this 
civil war. Europe has impatiently condemned and deplored it. Yet it is easy to 
see already that the calamity will be compensated by incalculable benefits to our 
country and to mankind. Such are the compensations of Providence for the sacri- 
fices it exacts." 

No less distinguished for ability and statesmanshij) is his satisfactory settle- 
ment of the international difficulty which arose from the seizure of Mason and 
Slidell, on board the British steamer Trent, by Commander Wilkes of the United 
States Navy. 

He has recently submitted to Congress a plan to encourage and facilitate im- 
migration — a measure destined probably to be of inestimable importance to the 
welfare of this country. While he was Governor of New- York, he recommended, 
as already stated, a similar system, which is now in successful operation in that 
State, under the direction of the "Commissioners of Emigration." In the Senate 
of the United States and in the Cabinet he has always maintained broad and 
liberal views of foreign immigration, while he has never been able to approve of 
any scheme for the colonization abroad of the colored people of his own country. 

But the time has not yet arrived for a full review of Mr. Seward's course as 
Secretary of State. That the success or failure of the rebellion depends very 
much on the wisdom and sagacity with which our foreign relations are treated is 
as unquestionable as that so heavy a responsibility could not have been intrusted 
to abler hands. Mr. Seward's previous character warranted what the exj^erience 
of the last three years has demonstrated. His diplomatic correspondence, which 
Congress has published, shows something of the work he has performed. Al- 
though his sphere of labor has been almost entirely with foreign governments, the 
reflex influence of his published despatches upon the people at home has been 
scarcely less important. He has inspired their confidence in the darkest hours, 
enlightening their understandings as to the character of the war in all its phases, 
and stimulated them to renewed and greater endeavors. We can quote here but 
a few of the remarkable passages which have so affected all loyal hearts. The 
volumes already published comprise over three thousand jjrinted pages of corre- 
spondence. 



WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD. 201 

That the nature of the gi-eat conflict was well understood by Mr. Seward, 
even before it broke out in war, is clearly seen in one of his efirliest despatches, in 
these words : " The object of the revolution is to create a nation built upon the 
principle that African slavery is necessary, just, wise, and beneficent, and that it 
may and must be expanded over the central portion of the American continent 
and islands without check or resistance, at whatever cost and sacrifice to the 
welfare and happiness of the human race." To Mr. Dayton he \vrites, in May, 
1861 : " You cannot be too decided or too explicit in making known to the 
French government that there is not now, nor has there been, nor will there be, 
any, the least idea existing in this Government of suffering a dissolution of this 
Union to take place in any way whatever. . . . The thought of a dissolution 
of the Union, peaceably or by force, has never entered into the mind of any candid 
statesman here." 

After the President had issued his proclamation of freedom, Mr. Seward 
wrote : " The interests of humanity have now become identified with the cause 
of our country. . . . It is hoped and believed that after the painful experi- 
ence we have had of the danger to which the Federal connection with slavery is 
exposing the Eepublic, there will be few indeed who will insist that the decree 
which brings this connection to an end either could or ought to have been further 
deferred." 

In view of prevailing apprehensions of war with France or England, Mr. 
Seward says : "We do no such injury to our cause, and no such violence to our 
national self-respect, as to apprehend that the Union is to be endangered by any 
foi'eign war that shall come upon us, unprovoked and without excuse. . . . 
It is indeed a fearful drama which the Almighty Euler of nations has appointed 
us to enact. But it does not surpass the powers he has given us to sustain the 
performance. Not only friendly nations, but human nature itself is interested in 
its success, and must not be disappointed." 

Mr. Seward has been able, in addition to his public and professional labors, 
to devote some portion of his time to literary eflbrts ; among which we may name 
his Orations on John Quincy Adams, La Fayette, and O'Connell, his Addresses at 
Yale College, Columbus University, Plymouth Pilgrims' Celebration, and the. 
American Institute. These, with several discourses on Agriculture, Education, 
Internal Improvements, etc., have established his reputation as an author and an 
orator. His Messages to the Legislature while Governor, his numerous speeches 
in the Senate of New- York and in the United States Senate, and his forensic argu- 
ments, together with the orations, addresses, and discourses just named, and also 
many of his speeches in the election campaigns of 18M to 1860, have been pub- 
lished in four large octavo volumes, entitled Tlie Works of William. H. Seward. 



GEORGE H. THOMAS. 



A MON(x he few officers of the army from the Southern States who, havin. 
^X_ received an education at the National Military Academy, have remained 
t.ue to the Umon which had reared and educated them-the Abciiels of oTrlu 

"Faithful among the faithless found"— 
Major^General George H. Thomas deserves prominent and honorable mention 
fttK tT' l7"" '"" ^°^^*^^"^Pt°^ County, Virginia, July thirty-first, 1816 His 
was!; tl ;^ t"' "'^^ °''^"°"^' '^^°^^^' '''' ^"^ ™'^'^-' ^'-beth E hen 

and young Thomas received a good education, and at the age of nineteen becamJ 
deputy to his uncle, James Eochelle, Clerk of Southampton County, and com 
menced the study of law in his office. From some cause his attentio^ was si 
afte turned to military life, and having received in the spring of 1836 throlh 
the mfluence of his family, an appointment as cadet at Weslpfint, he entered £ 
Academy m the following June, at the age of about twenty years. J^Z^. 
tamed a fair position as a student in the Academy, graduatingtwelfth in a c ss 
of forty-five, m June, 1840, and receiving at once a commission as Second Li u 
. tenant :n the Third artillery. In November of the same year he joined htr"" 
ment ,n Florida, where the Seminole war was then in pr;gress. In Novembe 
1 41 he was breyetted first lieutenant "for gallant conduct in the M.r agl" t J 
Florida ,Indians." In January, 1842, Lieutenant Thomas was- ordered'w^I 
c mpany to Ne^-Orleans barracks, and in June of the same year to FortMou t 
Charleston On the seventeenth of May, 1843, he was promoted to a first lieu te!: 
ancy, and in December of the same year ordered to duty with eompany C Th"d 
light artillery, then stationed at Fort McHenry, Baltimore. In the'sprin. f 
1644, he was again on duty at Fort Moultrie. ° 

On the first indications of a war with Mexico, July, 1845, Lieutenant Thomas 

ZZ %t .^'^ ^°"P'^^^ *° ^---' ^° -P-^ fo^ duty to General Zacharv 
Taylor^ This artillery company and the Third and Fourth regiments of infantry, 
U. S. A., were the first United States troops which occupied the soil of Texas. 




EiS*lyA-H.Bi(c3ne- 



MAJ.-GEN. GEORGE H. THOl^IAS. 



GEORGE H. THOMAS. 203 

After marcliing from Cor^^us Christi to the Rio Grande, Lieutenant Thomas's com- 
pany, with one company of the First artillery and six companies of the Seventh. 
United States infantry, were left to gamson Fort Brown, opposite Matamoras, 
while General Taylor, with the main body of his army, fell back to "Point Isabel 
to establish there a depot of supplies. On the second of May, 1846, the Mexicans 
invested Fort Brown, and bombarded it until the eighth, when they withdrew to 
reenforce General Ampudia at Eesaca de la Palma. On the ninth. General Taylor 
defeated Ampudia at Eesaca de la Palma, and drove him and his army across the 
Eio Grande, the garrison at Fort Brown contributing to the decisiveness of the 
victory by pouring a terrible and unintermitting fire of shot and shell into the 
ranks of the retreating foe as they M^ere struggling in the utmost confusion to 
cross the river and thus escape Taylor's relentless pursuit. After the evacuation 
of Matamoras, Lieutenant Thomas was detaclied from his company, and with a 
section of his battery assigned to temporary duty with the advance-guard, first at 
Reynosa, and afterward at Camargo. In September, the main body of the army 
having reached Camargo, he rejoined his command and marched to Monterey. 
On the twenty -third of September, 1846, he was brevetted captain "for gallant 
conduct at the battle of Monterey," and though still a lieutenant in actual rank, 
commanded company E of his regiment till February fourteenth of the next year. 
In December, 1846, he was placed in the advance with his company, and entered 
Victoria about New- Year's, 1847, with Quitman'^ brigade. He pai-ticipated in 
the bloody and decisive battle of Buena Vista, on the twenty-first of February, 
and was brevetted major for gallant and meritorious sei-vices in that battle. He 
remained on duty in Mexico till August twentieth, 1848, his company having 
been among the last to leave, as it had been the first to enter the Mexican terri- 
tory. He was next ordered to duty at Brazos Santiago, and in the following De- 
cember to Fort Adams, Newport, R I. In July, 1849, he was placed in command 
of company B of the Third artillery, and soon after ordered again to Florida, 
where Indian troubles had again broken out. In December, 1850, he received 
orders for Texas, but at New-Orleans found later orders, assigning him to dutv at 
Fort Independence, Boston harbor. His stay here was short, as on the twenty- 
eighth of March he was assigned to the post of Instructor of Artillery and Cavalry 
at West- Point. On the thirty-first of May, 1854, Captain Thomas (he had been 
promoted to a full captaincy in his regiment in the previoxis December) took com- 
mand of a battalion of artillery and conducted it by way of Panama to California. 
Arriving at Benicia Barracks, he was assigned to Fort Yuma, in Lower California, 
and arrived at that post on the fifteenth of July, 1854. The next year (July 
eighteeith) he was promoted to the rank of major in one of the new cavalry regi- 
ments ordered by Congi-ess, and joined his regiment at Jefferson BaiTacks, Mo., 
early in September. The regiment was ordered on duty in Texas, and Major 



204 GEORGE H. THOMAS. 

Thomas remained there four and a half years, being in command of the regiment 
for three years of the time, and commanding two or three Indian expeditions, and 
two of geographical explorations, one to the headwaters of the Canadian and Eed 
Rivers and the other to tlie headwaters of the Conchas. 

In April, 1861, Major Thomas was assigned to duty at Carlisle Barracks, 
Pennsylvania, to remount his regiment, which had been dismounted and ordered 
out of Texas by General Twiggs. Having performed this service, he was ordered 
to report for duty to General Patterson, then commanding the Department of 
Pennsylvania. On the twenty -fifth of April, he was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel, 
and on the third of May following Colonel, of the Fifth United States regular 
cavalry. From May till August twenty-sixth, he was Acting Brigadier-General 
under General Patterson and General Banks. On the seventeenth of August, he 
was appointed Brigadier-General of volunteers, and on the twenty-sixth of the 
same month, ordered to report for duty to General Robert Anderson, commanding 
the Department of Kentucky. 

Arriving at Louisville, September sixth, he was assigned to the command of 
Camp Dick Robinson, fifteen miles south-east of Nicholasville, Ky. The rebel 
General Zollicoffer had passed through Cumberland Gap with a considerable force, 
with the intention of invading and subjugating Kentucky to rebel rule, and Gen- 
eral Thomas was determined to thwart liis purposes. He accordingly sent Briga- 
dier-General Schoepf thii-ty miles south-east of Camp Dick Robinson, to a point in 
the Rockcastle Hills, with four regiments of infantry and a battalion of artillery, 
and Wolford's cavahy. General Schoepf's fortified position, which he named 
Camp Wildcat, was, on the twenty-sixth of October, the scene of the battle of 
Wildcat, in which Zollicoffer was completely routed and driven back to Cumber- 
land Gap by General Schoepf Immediately after this battle. General Thomas 
removed his headquarters to Crab Orchard, and began preparations for an advance 
into East-Tennessee, but the enemy having assembled a large force in Bowling 
Green, he was ordered by General Buell, who had just succeeded General W. T. 
Sherman as commander of the Department of the Ohio, to move with his force, 
except three regiments, to Lebanon, Ky., and be in readiness for an active cam- 
paign. Zollicoffer was again in the field with a larger and more efficient force ; 
General Schoepf was despatched to prevent him from crossing the Cumberland, but 
was unable to accomplish this, though he kept him from attacking Somerset, which 
he had threatened. Zollicoffer succeeded in crossing the Cumberland with about 
eight thousand men, and established himself on the north side, opposite Mill Spring, 
in a strongly fortified camp. General Thomas had made every thing ready for a 
movement on the thirtieth of December, 1861, and left Lebanon that day, under 
orders from General Buell to march against Zollicoffer, and dislodge him from his 
intrenchments if he could not be induced to come out to fight the combined forces 



GEORGE H. THOMAS. 205 

of Thomas and Schoepf The roads in that portion of Kentucky, always bad 
enough in winter, were much worse than usual. The tenacious clay so loaded 
down the teams, the cavalry, the artillery, and the infantry, as to render progress 
all but impossible. Tliree miles a day was the utmost which the teams could 
accomplish. By nineteen days of laborious marching over roads so nearly im- 
passable. General Thomas succeeded in reaching a point called Logan's Cross-Koads, 
ten miles north of Mill Spring, with five regiments of infantry, "Wolford's Ken- 
tucky cavalry, Kenny's battery of the First Ohio artillery, and four companies of 
the First Michigan engineers. Here he halted to await the arrival of two more re- 
giments and to communicate with General Schoepf at Somerset. The preliminary 
arrangements were made on Saturday, and the forward movement on Mill Sjjring 
was to be made on Monday, January twentieth. But the enemy, believing that 
Thomas had only two regiments at Logan's Cross-Eoads, and that the remainder, 
disheartened and discouraged by the difficulties they had encountered, would 
not come up, resolved to surprise and overwhelm Thomas at Logan's Cross- 
Eoads, and for this purpose left their fortified camp at Mill Spring in the after- 
noon of Saturday, January eighteenth, and at daylight the, following morning 
commenced driving in the pickets of the Union troops. Two regiments, the 
Tenth Indiana and Fourth Kentucky, were quickly formed, advanced into a wood 
about half a mile in front of Logan's, and held their position firmly against a des- 
perate assault of the enemy till the Ninth Ohio and Second Minnesota came up, 
and while these regiments attacked the rebels in front, the Twelfth Kentucky and 
First and Second East-Tennessee (part of Schoepf 's force) advanced on their right 
and rear. After a desperate contest for half an hour, the Ninth Ohio charged 
their right with the bayonet, and at the same time the Twelfth Kentucky assailed 
their left with the utmost fury. The rebels could not withstand the violence of 
these assaults, and at first retreating slowly, soon broke into a complete and dis- 
orderly rout. Supplying themselves with ammunition, General Thomas's forces 
commenced the pursuit, intending to storm their intrenchments the next nioming ; 
but fear had lent wings to the flight of the fugitives, and ere the dawn of the 
twentieth they had escaped across the Cumberland, numbers of them being 
drowned by the sinking of the overladen boats. The survivors fled with fearful 
haste through the deep mud, and still quaked with teiTor when they had put 
thirty miles between themselves and their j)ursuers. Their camjJ, guns, equipage, 
supplies, clothing, and every thing were abandoned, and the panic of their flight 
extended even into Middle Tennessee. Zollicoffer, the rebel commander, was 
killed in the battle. 

, After this battle, General Thomas resumed his fonner purpose of going to the 
relief of the loyal patriots of East-Tennessee, and had nearly accumulated a suffi- 
cient amount of supplies for that expedition, when he was again summoned to 



206 GEORGE H. THOMAS. 

Lebanon and thence to Munfijrdsville by General Buell to take part in an assanlt 
on Bowling Green, then in the enemy's possession. Before the troops could be 
assembled in front of Bowling Green, however, the capture of Forts Henry and 
Donelson had compelled the enemy to evacuate that stronghold, and Nashville 
also, and General Thomas received orders to proceed with his division to Louis- 
ville, then to take steamers for Nashville. In the subsequent movements of the 
army of the Ohio General Thomas's division constituted the reserve corps, and did 
not reach the battle-ground of Shiloh in season to participate in the fight. 

On the twenty-fifth of April, 1862, General Thomas was appointed and con- 
firmed Major-General of volunteers, and on the first of May his division was trans- 
ferred to the army of the Tennessee, and General Halleck assigned him to the 
command of the right wing of the army, consisting of five divisions. After the 
evacuation of Corinth by the rebels, his division was stationed along the Memphis 
and Charleston Railroad, from luka. Miss., to Tuscumbia, Ala., for its protection. 
On the tenth of June, he was re-transferred to the army of the Ohio, and about 
the first of August was ordered to concentrate his command at Dechard, Tenn. 
From this place he proceeded to McMinnville, Tenn., and took charge of the divi- 
sions of Generals Nelson and Hood. On the third of September, he received 
orders from General Buell to join him at Murfreesboro, and subsequently at Nash- 
ville. After remaining for a few days in command of Nashville, he received 
orders to follow, and leaving Nashville on the fifteenth of September, joined Gen- 
eral Buell's army on the nineteenth at Prewitt's Knob, near Cave City, and was 
made second in command of the army. On the arrival of the army at Louisville, 
the Government removed General Buell from the command and offered it to Gen- 
eral Thomas, but at his solicitation and that of General Crittenden, General Buell 
was reinstated. In the battle of Perry ville, General Thomas being in command 
of the right wing, had but a small share of the battle, of which the left wing sus- 
tained the principal brunt. After General Rosecrans assumed the command of the 
army of the Ohio, or, as it was now designated again, the army of the Cumberland, 
General Thomas was placed in command of the centre, the Foiirteenth army corps, 
and was still second in command in the army. He remained in Nashville till the 
twenty-sixth of December, when the army moved forward toward Murfreesboro, 
and the terrible battle of Stone River followed. During those eventful days he 
commanded the centre, comprising the divisions of Rousseau and Negley, and to 
his judicious movements, his firmness, promptness, and unflinching braveiy was 
due no small portion of the success which finally crowned our arms in that pro- 
tracted and fearful struggle. 

After this battle the army of the Cumberland, materially reenforced, was or- 
ganized into three army corps, the Fourteenth,- Twentieth, and Twenty-first, con- 
sisting of five divisions, Rousseau's, Negley's, Reynolds's, Fry's, and R. B. 



GEORGE H. THOMAS. 207 

Mitchell's, and commanded by Major-General Thomas. In the forward move- 
ments of the summer of 1863, the advance upon Tullahoma and afterward upon 
Chattanooga, General Thomas bore a conspicuous part. 

The occupation of Chattanooga by his corps, and its connection with the 
battle of Chickaraauga, deserve perhaps a little explanation. "When General Eose- 
crans followed Bragg's retreating army from Tullahoma, he had before him two 
alternatives, a direct attack on Chattanooga by the narrow defile along the rail- 
road and the bank of the Tennessee Eiver, which could hardly have failed of dis- 
aster, or the crossing of Lookout Mountain by passes twenty and forty miles below, 
which would effectually flank the sti'onghold and compel its evacuation. He 
chose the latter, of course, and Thomas's corps was left in a position where, upon 
the evacuation of the town by the rebels, it could slip in by the railroad defile, 
while the other two corps crossed at the passes already named. The appearance 
of Crittenden's corps in the plain below Chattanooga 'was the signal for the evacu- 
ation of that place by Bragg's army, and General Thomas immediately moved 
forward and occupied the town. It was in the attempt to move Crittenden's and 
McCook's corps toward Chattanooga to unite with Thomas that the sanguinary 
battle of Chickamauga was fought, and the blunder of McCook in retracing 
his ste^DS and going back to the same pass which Crittenden had crossed con- 
tributed to the disaster of that battle. In this emergency, Thomas, coming out of 
Chattanooga and falling upon Bragg's rear, retrieved the fortunes of the battle 
when apparently wholly lost. To his decisive energy and indomitable bravery it 
is due that the partial defeat of the nineteenth of September was changed into at 
least a partial victory on the twentieth, and that while two of the army corps were 
defeated, the third was triumphant. Amid the tragedy of errors which made that 
battle disastrous, though the campaign as a whole was successful, there were no 
blunders to be laid to the account of Major-General Thomas. Thi-oughout the 
whole fight he moved among his men, conspicuous for his calm self-possession 
and his clear and seemingly intuitive knowledge of what was to be done at any 
given moment. It was in consequence of their appreciation of these qualities in 
him as a commander that the Government, on the twenty-sixth of October, gave 
him the command of the army of the Cumberland. 

In person, General Thomas is of large frame, fully six feet high and well-pro- 
portioned, with keen blue eyes, and massive but agreeable features, of a sanguineo- 
lyinphatic temperament, and a dignified though quiet deportment. He is a close 
observer, a sound reasoner, and possesses much of that patient, persevering per- 
sistency of purpose which characterizes General Grant. He is greatly beloved by 
his soldiers, who affectionately call him " Pap " Thomas. His motions, except 
when roused to ener^ by a great occasion, are deliberate, and his escort, who 
wearied sometimes of his frequent admonition, "slow trot," named him "Old 



208 



GEORGE H. THOMAS. 



Slow Trot." In action, however, all this is changed; the man, though never vio- 
lent and impulsive, shows an energy of action and rapid powers of combination 
which indicate that there is no slowness in the movements of that large and capa- 
cious brain. He is modest, and never given to display of his rank or position. 
His colonel's shoulder-straps were worn long after his promotion to the rank of 
brigadier-general, and the single star gleamed on his shoulders months after he 
had attained the rank of major-general. 




Sig flyjLH-Bitttie 



/p<<:>, /r/ti^^^-r?2.--h<f^t.~~^ 




CADWALADEE C. WASHBURi^. 

"^TAJOE-GENEEAL CADWALADEE GOLDEN WASHBUEN, one of 
-LtjL tte participators in the capture of VicksburgL, and who commanded the 
troops of the Sixteenth army corps during that memorable siege, is a native of 
Li^ermore, Oxford (now Androscoggin) County, Maine, and was born in the year 
l.s-iO. He is the son of Israel Washburn, Esq., who is still living, and is one 
of a family of seven sons, nearly all of whom have become more or less dis- 
tinguished in public life. He is the brother of Israel Washburn, Jr., ex-Gov- 
ernor of Maine, and for ten years a Eepresentative in Congress from that State ; 
of E. B. Washburn, Member of Congress from Illinois for the last twelve years ; 
of Charles A. Washburn, United States Minister Eesident at Paraguay ; of Wil- 
liam D. Washburn, Surveyor-General of Minnesota; and of Samuel B. Wash- 
burn, a lieutenant in the navy. In 1839, and before he was of age, he emiorated 
to the State of Illinois, and commenced teaching school at Eock Island, in that 
State, and at the same time studying law with Joseph B. Wells, Esq., afterward 
Lieutenant-Governor of Illinois. Admitted to the bar in the spring of 1842, he 
removed to Mineral Point, Wisconsin, in the lead-mining district, where he com- 
menced the practice of his profession. With a fine legal mind, great industry and 
energy, and unquestioned integrity, he at once entered upon a successful business 
career. In the summer of 1854, without ever having been in publiJ life, he was 
brought forward as the Whig and Anti-Nebraska candidate for Congi-ess, in the 
Second District of Wisconsin, to succeed the late Hon. Ben. C. Eastman, and 
was triumphantly elected. He was reelected in 1856, and again in 1858. Durino- 
the entire six years he was in Congress, he was associated with his two brothers, 
Israel Washburn, Jr., of Maine, and E. B. Washburn, of Illinois, a remarkable 
and unprecedented coincidence of three brothers representing three different States 
at the same time. In 1860, the demands of his private business compelled him 
to decline a reelection. In the fall of 1861, he was commissioned as Colonel by 
Governor Eandall, of Wisconsin, to raise a regiment of cavalry. Sacrificing im- 
mense business interests, (for he is believed to be the largest individual land- 
holder in Wisconsin,) he at once entered the military service, and soon brought 
into the field the Second regiment of Wisconsin cavalry. In the winter of 1862, 
he was ordered to Missouri, and he accompanied the expedition into South- West- 
ern Missouri, and through the Ozark Mountains, and was in the advance of that 



210 CADWALADER C. WASHBURN. 

celebrated marcli of Curtis's army through Arkansas, his command being the first 
to enter and seize Helena, an important strategic point on the Mississippi Eiver. 
About this time he was promoted from a Colonel of cavalry to a Brigadier-Gene- 
ral, and was made post commander at Jlelena. In the winter of 1862-3, in aid 
of General Grant's army, he made a most successful and daring cavalry raid from 
Helena into Mississippi, dispersing a largely superior force of the enemy, cutting 
the railroads from Memj^his to Grenada, and capturing large military supiplies. 
He was highly complimented for this service in a general order issued by his 
superior officer, Brigadier-General Alvin P. Hovey, of Indiana. In March, 1863, 
he was appointed and confirmed a Major-General. The militaiy forces at Helena 
having been assigned to General Grant's department, that distinguished officer 
intrusted Major-General Washburn with the important duty of opening the 
Yazoo Pass, through which he hoped to attain access with his army into the rear 
of Vicksburgh, by way of the Yazoo Eiver. This was a work of appalling labor. 
A crooked, sluggish stream, filled by every conceivable obstruction, such as 
fallen timber and immense trees, piled one upon another, for miles and miles, the 
rebels considered it simply an impossibility for it to be cleared out so as to admit 
of the passage of steamboats. But in that they were mistaken. General Wash- 
bum brought to the task an iron will and almost superhuman resolution. Labor- 
ing night and day, and using the axe himself like a common soldier, the work 
progressed before the unrelenting energy of his brave troops. His duty was 
accomplished, and he received the highest commendation from General Grant. 
He had the pleasure of taking steamboats loaded with troops through a pass 
where the enemy did not suppose it would be possible to take even a canoe. The 
expedition destined for the Yazoo Eiver and the rear of Vicksburgh did not fail 
through inability to get through the Pass, but from inability to overcome the ene- 
my's batteries at Greenwood. 

Having successfully accomplished the work assigned to him of opening the 
Yazoo Pass, General Grant ordered General Washburn from Helena to Memphis, 
to take command of the cavalry of the Department of the Tennessee. From 
Memphis he was ordered to Vicksburgh, to take command of the troops of the 
Sixteenth army corps. He was assigned to the extreme right of our position to 
hold Snyder's Bluff, which was the key to the defence against any attack of Joe 
Johnston. 

After the capture of Vicksburgh, Major-General Washburn was ordered to 
New-Orleans, in command of a detachment of the Thirteenth army corps. From 
there he was ordered to South-Western Louisiana with his command. At the 
time the rebels made their attack upon Burbridge's brigade, at Bayou Couteau, 
General Washburn occupied the position to which he had been assigned three 
miles off. At the sound of the first gun he instantly led forward his entire com- 



CADWALADER C. WASHBURN. 211 

mand to the relief of Burbridge, who had held the euemy at bay by the most des- 
perate fighting. Attacking with great vigor, tjreneral Washburn soon routed the 
enemy, who had double his force, and drove him discomfited from the field. In 
December, 1863, he was ordered from Louisiana to Texas with his command, and 
at the gate of Matagorda Bay he captured Fort Esperanza, a strong rebel work, 
with all its guns, ammunition, etc. In April, 1864, Major-General Hurlburt hav- 
ing been removed from the command of the Department of West-Tennessee, Lieu- 
tenant-General Grant ordered General Washburn to that important command, 
with headquarters at Memphis. His administration has been characterized by 
great vigor and ability. 

General Washburn is now in the prime of life, fortj^-three years of age. 
His home is at La Crosse, Wisconsin, on the Mississipjji River. As a man of 
probity and honor, a public-spirited and patriotic citizen, he is universally es- 
teemed ; as a politician and a statesman, he has enjoyed the public confidence to a 
remarkable extent ; as a soldier, he has shown sound military judgment, unsur- 
passed energy, undaunted courage, and the most lofty devotion to the cause of hi? 
country. 



WII^FIELD SCOTT HAI^COOK. 

W INFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK was bom at Montgomery Square, in 
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, February fourteenth, 1824. By tlie 
mother's side he comes of a good fighting stock, his maternal great grandfather 
having served under General Washington, while his grandfather was a soldier 
both during the Eevolution and in the war of 1812. His father, Benjamin F. 
Hancock, is a lawyer of NoiTistown, Pennsylvania. 

Young Hancock entered the United States Military Academy in 1840, and 
was graduated in 1844. Like many of those officers who have most distinguished 
themselves within the last two or three years, he appears to have given but slight 
])romise of future eminence, for he stood eighteenth' in a class of twenty-five. 

Assigned to the Sixth infantrj'- as brevet Second Lieutenant, his first service 
was in the Indian Territory, on the banks of the Bed River, and for some time 
he was stationed at Fort Washita, then the westernmost of our military posts. 
When the Mexican war broke out, he became Adjutant to Colonel (the late rebel 
General) Bonham, in Franklin Pierce's brigade, and on the march to Puebla had 
several opportunities, at the National Bridge and other points, of showing that he 
was made of better stuff than his West-Point record seemed to indicate. Arrived 
at Puebla, he joined his regiment, in which he had now obtained the full rank of 
Second Lieutenant, and under the command of General Worth began his route 
toward the capital. 

At the battle of Churubusco he succeeded to the command of his company 
early in the action, and according to the official reports " behaved in the hand- 
somest manner;" for which, coupled with his gallant conduct at Contreras, he 
received the next year the brevet of First Lieutenant. He was present at the battle 
of Molino del Key and the taking of the City of Mexico ; served for some time 
under Brigadier-General Cadwalader at Toluca ; was appointed Eegimental Quar- 
termaster in June, 1848 ; and remained in the field until Mexico was formally sur- 
rendered at the close of the war. He was then ordered to the Upper Mississippi. 
From 1849 to 1855, he was stationed in Missouri, as adjutant of his regiment, 
during wliich time he man-ied Miss Russell of St. Louis, in 1850, and was pro- 
moted to the full rank of First Lieutenant in 1853. In November, 1855, he was 
appointed Assistant Quartermaster with the rank of Captain, and attached to the 
Seminole expedition. For two years he saw active service in Florida, against the 




^-"oyA-E-Bitiii-- 



Brig.- Gen. W. S. HANCOCK. 



WIN FIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 213 

Indians, holding a position on the staff of each of our successive commanders in 
that campaign — General Harney, Major (now General) Harvey Brown, and Colo- 
nel Monroe ; and so acceptably were the difficult duties of his office performed, 
that when General Harney was ordered to Kansas to make prei^arations for the 
Utah campaign, he requested that Captain Hancock might be detailed to assist 
him. The troops passed the winter in Kansas, and were on their march to Utah 
in the spring, when intelligence reached them that the expedition had been aban- 
doned. Captain Hancock was ordered to proceed to Fort .Bridger, and accom- 
pany the Sixth infantry, as principal Quartermaster, across the plains to Benicia — 
the longest continuous march of troops on record. For the skilful management 
of his department on this toilsome and dangerous expedition, our young Quarter- 
master received great credit. 

The next two or three years saw Captain Hancock at Los Angelos, in Soutli- 
ern California, employed in supplying, by means of land transportation, some of 
the more remote military posts on the Colorado River. He was still on this duty 
when the rebellion broke out in 1861. He had done much to encourage and 
strengthen the few loyal men of that part of the State, and to baffle the plans of 
the secessionists who were organizing and arming to take California forcibly out 
of the Union. The moment the war had actiially begun, he offered his services 
to his native State, but receiving no answer, he applied to the War Department 
to be ordered East, and was immediately appointed Chief Quartei-master to Gene- 
ral Anderson in Kentucky. Before he could report for duty, however, he was 
recommended by General McClellan for a higher position, and received, Septem- 
ber twenty-third, 1861, a commission as Brigadier-General of volunteers, with a 
command, consisting of the Fifth Wisconsin, Sixth Maine, Forty-ninth Pennsyl- 
vania, and Forty-third New- York regiments, in General W. F. Smith's division of 
the army of the Potomac. All through the winter his men were encamped on 
the Virginia side of the Potomac, near the Chain Bridge, and so carefully were 
they drilled, and disciplined, and exercised in reconnoissances and other minor 
operations, that they have ever since kept up their reputation, through changes 
of men and changes of commanders, as one of the best brigades in the seiTice. 

On the oi-ganization of the amiy corps. General Smith's division made jjart 
of the Fourth corps. General Keyes. During the siege of Yorktown, Hancock's 
brigade was actively employed, and with Brooks's Vermont brigade, of the same 
division, fought the battle of Lee's Mills, April sixteenth, 1862. 

During the battle of Williamsburgh, General Smith received orders to send 
one brigade across a dam on our right, to occupy a redoubt on the left of the 
enemy's line. Hancock's command was selected for this purpose. He took pos- 
session of the first redoubt, and afterward of a second, and sent for reenforcements 
to enable him to advance further, and take a third, the possession of which would 



214 WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 

have given him a decisive advantage over a force of the enemy then hotly en- 
gaged with Kearny and Hooker. General Sumner, however, who commanded 
in General McCIellan's absence, felt unable to spare more troops, and in reply to 
Hancock's repeated messages, sent him an order to fall back to his first position. 
The execution of this order General Hancock deferred as long as possible, and in 
the mean time General McClellan arrived and immediately sent him reenforce- 
ments. Before they could reach him, however, he had been confronted by a 
superior force. " Feigning to retreat slowly, he awaited their onset, and then 
turned upon them, and after some terrific volleys of musketry, he charged them 
with the bayonet, routing and dispersing their whole force, killing, wounding, 
and capturing from five hundred to six hundred men, he himself losing only 
thirty- one men. This was one of the most brilliant engagements of the war, and 
General Hancock merits the highest praise for the soldierly qualities displayed, 
and his perfect appreciation of the vital importance of his position." {McClellmi's 
Official Report.) 

This affair decided the battle. The rebels retreated during the night. On 
the following day, General McClellan came to Hancock's camp, and addressed 
each of the regiments engaged. "Soldiers," said he, "your comrades fought 
bravely and well, but to jovl your country owes its gratitude for having fought 
and won this battle. Williamsburgh shall be inscribed on your colors." 

Soon after this, the whole of Smith's division was transferred to the Sixth 
corps, newly organized under the command of General Franklin. Hancock par- 
ticipated in nearly all the great battles of the ensuing campaign, everywhere 
arousing the admiration of the ofi&cers and men by his personal gallantry and his 
impetuosity in attack. In every engagement he justified the praise which Gene- 
ral McClellan had already bestowed upon him, when he described his conduct as 
"splendid," and "brilliant in the extreme." 

The Sixth corps had not an active part in General Pope's Virginia campaign, 
but it had the honor of opening the ball in Maryland by the attacks on Sugar 
Loaf Mountain and Crampton's Pass, in the former of which Hancock was 
selected to dislodge the enemy from the heights. In the subsequent battle of 
Antietam, September seventeenth, Hancock was promoted by Genei-al McClellan, 
during the action, to the command of the first division of the Second (Sumner's) 
corps, in place of General Richardson, who was mortally wounded. He led this 
division in the assault upon Fredericksburgh, December thirteenth, where he lost 
nearly half his men, and commanded it again at Chancellorsville. In the mean 
time he had been commissioned Major-General of volunteers, November twenty- 
ninth, 1862. On the tenth of June, 1863, he relieved General Couch in com- 
mand of the Second corps, and was soon afterward assigned by the President to 
the permanent command of that corps. In the battle of Gettysburgh, General 



WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK. 215 

Meade placed the First, Third, and Eleventh coi-ps under his orders, and gave 
him command of the left centre of the line, where Longstreet's grand assault was 
so terribly repulsed on the third of July. Towards the close of the day, General 
Hancock was severely wounded in the thigh by a musket-ball; but he refused to 
be taken to the rear, and, stretched on the ground beneath a tree, continued to 
direct the oj^erations of his command After his recovery, he employed the long 
period of military inactivity which followed, in visiting different parts of the 
Northern States for the purpose of recruiting his coi-ps to fifty thousand men 
He met with gi-eat success, and was eveiywhere received with enthusiasm, and it 
was not difficult to obtain recruits for a corps which, up to that time, had cap- 
tured over forty flags and lost over twenty-five thousand men, but had never lost 
a color or a gun. , 

General Hancock retained his command on the reorganization of the army 
of the Potomac in the spring of 1864, and in the battles of the Wilderness and 
the subsequent operations of Grant's campaign, fought with even more than his 
accustomed gallantry. At Spottsylvania Court-House especially, on the twelfth 
of May, he performed an exploit the fame of which resounded through the coun- 
try. Assaulting the rebel breastworks at daylight, he entered them at a salient, 
without firing a shot, forced an inner line of intrenchments, captured several 
thousand prisonei-s, including a whole division and two generals, brought away 
thirty or forty cannon, and held his position all day against five desperate at- 
tempts of the rebels to retake it. 



— »sS,.'S>J^i4'^^'3!=r- 



HEI^EY WAGEE HALLECK. 

AN ancestry good, honest, and reputable, removed alike from the dazzling 
heights of a public career, with its jealousies, hostilities, and temptations, 
and from the ignominy of a low and obscure birth, may justly be accounted a 
fortunate circumstance in any man's lineage. This good fortune General -Hal- 
leck enjoys. 

The Hallecks claim as their ancestor Peter Halleck, of Southold, Suifolk 
county. Long Island, a descendant of the lords of Alnwick Castle, which Fitz- 
Greene Halleck, a relative of the general, has so finely described. The name in 
England was originally Hallyoak, and is now written there Halliock, Hallock, 
and Halleck. In this country the Hallocks and Hallecks both trace their hneagc 
to the same ancestor. Honorable Joseph Halleck, the general's father, settled in 
the early part of the present century in Western, a small town on the Mohawk 
Elver, in Oneida county, a few miles west of Utica, where he married Miss Wa- 
ger, the daughter of Henry Wager, a German, the near neighbor and personal 
friend of Baron Steuben, who, still hale and hearty, though one hundred years 
old, has lived to see his gi-audson commander-in-chief of the armies of the United 
States. 

In this little town of Western, Henry Wager Halleck was bom in 1816. 
We have been able to learn but little of his early childhood. He is represented, 
by those who recollect him, as a studious, manly boy, with a decided predilection 
for mathematical studies. When fifteen or sixteen years of age, he left home, 
and, after consulting an uncle, then resident at Syracuse, went to Hudson, and 
commenced a course of preparation for'college at the Hudson Academy, entering 
his name as Henry Wager. The cause of his dropping his last name is uncer- 
tain. After spending nearly three years in the academy at Hudson, where he 
acquitted himself with honor and reputation as a student, he entered Union Col- 
lege in 1831 ; and the following year, receiving through his uncle's influence a 
cadet appointment at West Point, joined his class there, resuming his full name. 
He was somewhat older than most of the cadets of his class, having attained his 
nineteenth year when he received his appointment. 

It is sufficient evidence of his diligence and ability, that in the class of 1839, 
consisting of thirty -one members, and in many respects one of the most remark- 




5 



I^IAJ GEN HENRV WAGER RALLECK. 



KEW jrjHK. O P. PUTKAU 



HENRY WAGER HALLECK. 217 

able classes "which have gi-aduated at the academy, young Halleck held the third 
rank. Immediately after his graduation he was appointed second-lieutenant of 
engineers, without any delay of brevet rank. In 18-10, he was assistant professor 
of engineering at the academy, and in 1841 became assistant to the chief-engineer, 
General Totten, at Washington. Soon after, he was assigned to the charge of 
the construction of the fortifications of New York harbor, in which employment 
he continued till 1844. In 1841, his "Papers on Practical Engineering, No. 1," 
were published by the engineer department ; and the same year he prepared a 
" Practical Treatise on Bitumen and its Uses." In 1843, Union College conferred 
on him the honorary degree of A. M. In 1844, Congress published his " Eeport 
on Military Defences." 

In January, 1845, he was promoted to a first-lieutenancy, during his absence 
from the country ; having obtained a furlough and sailed for Europe in the au- 
tumn of 1844, to observe what progress European nations had made in military 
science. Through the friendship of Marshal Bertrand, he was introduced to 
Marshal Soult, then war minister of Louis Philippe, and received from him full 
authority to examine every thing of a military character in France. His inves- 
tigations were extended to several other of the continental powers. Eeturniug 
to this country in the summer of 1845, he was requested by the committee of the 
Lowell Institute, Boston, to deliver a course of lectures on the subject of " Mili- 
tary Science and Art." These lectures, which give evidence of high scientific 
and literary ability, were published in 1846, the author having prefixed an elabo- 
rate introduction on the " Justifiableness of War." 

The commencement of the Mexican War recalled Lieutenant Halleck to his 
professional duties. He took part in the battle of Palo Alto, and immediately 
after that action was sent to California and the Pacific coast, where he served 
during the war in both a military and civil capacity. He was in the engagements 
of Palos Prietas, Urias, San Antonio, and Todos Santos. At San Antonio he 
marched, with about thirty mounted volunteers, one hundred and twenty miles 
in twenty-eight hours, surprised the enemy's garrison of several hundred men, 
rescued two naval officers and several marines who were prisoners-of-war, and 
captured the enemy's flag, two Mexican officers, and the governor's archives, the 
governor himself barely escaping in his night-clothes. At Todos Santos he led 
into action the main body of Colonel Burton's forces. When Commodore Shu- 
brick attacked Mazatlan, Halleck acted as his aid, and afterward as chief of staff 
and lieutenant-governor of the city. While engaged in these duties, he planned 
and directed the construction of the fortifications at that place. Por his services 
on those occasions he was breveted captain. 

In 1847-'8-'9, under the military governments of General Kearnev and 
Governors Mason and Riley, Captain Halleck was secretary of state in California. 



218 HENRY WAGER HALLECK. 

"When the convention met in 1849, to form a constitution for the future state of 
California, he was one of the leading members of that body and of the drafting- 
committee, and the constitution was almost entirely his work. It was at his 
suggestion also that a convention was called, to relieve Congress and General 
Taylor's administration from the difficulties in which they were involved by the 
Free-Soil and Pro-Slavery parties of 1849. From 1847 to 1850, Captain Halleck 
also directed and superintended the entire collection of the public revenues in 
California, amounting to several millions of dollars, and examined and audited 
all the accounts before they were forwarded to "Washington. The importers de- 
nied the legality of these collections, and the secretary of the treasury, Ilonorable 
Robert J. Walker, doubted their authority; but Captain Halleck was subse- 
quently sustained, in his interpretation of the law, by the Sujtreme Court of the 
United States. 

From 1850 to 1854, Captain Halleck served in California as judge-advocate, 
a member of the Pacific board of engineers, and inspector of lighthouses. In 
July, 1853, he received his commission as captain of engineers. In August, 
1854, he resigned his commission, and entered upon the practice of law, for the 
study of which he had managed to find time during his singularly busy career 
as a soldier ; and the same year he published a carefully-compiled translation of 
"The Mining-Laws of Spain and Mexico." His legal abilities soon brought him 
an extensive and lucrative practice ; and, as the senior partner of the great law- 
firm of Halleck, Peachy, and Billings, in San Francisco, he was rapidly accumu- 
lating a large fortune, to which his position of director-general of the New Alma- 
den quicksilver-mines also contributed. In 1860, he published a translation of 
" De Foz on the Law of Mines ;" and in December of that year accepted the ap- 
pointment of major-general of militia, and reorganized the militia of California. 
Early in 18G1, he was ofTcrcd by the governor a seat in the supreme court of the 
State, but declined the honor. 

In the sjiring of 1861, he published an elaborate work, on which he had 
long been engaged, entitled " lutci'national Law and the Laws of "War," which 
has received from competent critics the highest commendation. 

Qualities and abilities such as those of General Halleck were too rare in the 
army of the United States — are, indeed, too rare in the army of any country — 
for the nation to spare him from its service in its hour of trial ; and in August, 
1861, the President, at the suggestion of Lieutenant-General Scott, nominated 
him as major-general in the regular army. Ho accepted, and his commission 
bore date August 17th, 1861. Arranging his business as rapidly as possible, he 
left California about the first of October, and arrived in New York the latter 
part of the same month. After an interview with the President and General 
Scott (who had determined to retire from the active command of the army), he 



HENRY WAGER HALLECK. 219 

was assigned to the command of the "Western department, and on the 11th of 
November relieved General Hunter, at St. Louis, who had temporarily succeeded 
General Fremont. 

General llallcck's energy and great executive ability were soon felt in every 
department of the vast army which rapidly gathered at the West. Contractors 
were looked after; bridge-burners and marauders promptly and severely pun- 
ished ; levies made on the property of wealthy secessionists, for the support of 
the families of Unionists whom they or their friends had plundered ; troops 
raised, equipped, drilled, and sent off to the different points where they were 
required, in large numbers ; and the people led to feel that they had at the head 
of affairs a general who fully understood the wants of his department, and had 
the capacity to supply them. 

On the 20th of November, 1861, General Halleck issued the following 
order : 

" IlEAD-QUAnTERR, Dkfartment OF MISSOURI, St. Louis, November 20th, 1861. 

"General Orders, No. 3.- — 1. It has been represented that important 
information respecting the numbers and condition of our forces is conveyed to 
the enemy by means of fugitive slaves who are admitted within our lines. In 
order to remedy this evil, it is directed that no such persons be hereafter per- 
mitted to enter the lines of any camp, or of any forces on the march, and that 
any within such lines be immediately excluded therefrom. 

" 2. The general commanding wishes to impress upon all officers in com- 
mand of posts, and troops in the field, the importance of preventing unauthorized 
persons of every description from entering and leaving our lines, and of observing 
the greatest i)recaution in the employment of agents and clerks in confidential 
positions. 

"By order of Major-General IIalleck. 
"■William MoMioilael, As3istant-.\djutant General." 

General Halleck was severely blamed for this order. It is hardly probable 
that, at a later date, when the value of the information received from fugitive 
slaves was better understood, and the probability of their falling into the hands 
of the rebels (if driven from our lines) ascertained, he would have issued it; but 
at the time when it was promulgated, only nine days after he reached St. Louis, 
and under the influences by which he was surrounded, he, no doubt, honestly 
believed it to be necessary, to prevent the enemy from being informed of what 
was transpiring within our lines. During the latter part of his administration 
of the Western department. Order No. 3 was substantially a dead letter. The 
matter was brought up in Congress, and Honorable F. P. Blair, member from the 
St. Louis district, wrote to General Halleck for an explanation. The general 
made the following reply : 



220 HENRY WAGER IIALLECK. 

" St. Louis, , 18G2. 

" To Honorable F. P. Blair, "Washington : 

" Dear Colonel : Yours of the 4tli instant is just received. Order No. 3 
was, in my mind, clearly a military necessity. Unautliorized persons, black or 
white, free or slave, must be kept out of our camps, unless we are willing to 
publish to the enemy every thing we do or intend to do. 

" It was a military and not a political order. 

" I am willing to carry out any lawful instructions in regard to fugitive 
slaves which my superiors may give me, and to enforce any law which Congress 
may pass ; but I cannot make law, and will not violate it. 

" You know my private opinion on the policy of enacting a law confiscating 
the slave-property of rebels in arms. If Congress shall pass it, you may be cer- 
tain I shall enforce it. 

"Yours truly, H. W. Halleck.' 

The successful progress of the war in the West, and the prompt massing of 
troops against the strong points of the enemy, which ' resulted in the capture of 
Forts Henry and Donelson ; the evacuation of Bowling Green, Columbus, and 
Nashville, culminating in the bloody and hard-fought field of Shiloh — gave the 
strongest testimony to the comprehensive intellect and extraordinary executive 
ability of the commander of the Western department. After the last-named 
battle, he assumed the command of the army in person, and, after a siege of 
nearly two months, compelled the rebels to evacuate Corinth, and break up in 
disorder. The capture of Island Number Ten, of Huntsville, Alabama, and the 
line of the Memphis and Charleston railroad, and finally of Memphis itself, for a 
time jDaralyzed the power of tlie rebels in the West. 

The disastrous result of the attempt to effect a change of base in the army of 
the Potomac, at the close of June and the beginning of July, 1862, convinced the 
President of the necessity of having at the capital a general of the highest mili- 
tary skill, who should be capable of performing the duties of commander-in-chief 
of all the army-corps which were in the field, and who could direct the necessai^y 
combinations for efficient and successful warfare, and thus relieve the overtasked 
ofiScials of the war department, and at the same time bring the war to a more 
speedy termination. Among the numerous generals in command, none possessed 
the qualifications needed to the same degree as Major-General Halleck ; and after 
consultation with General Scott, the President simimoned him to Washington, 
and, by an order bearing date July 11th, but not promulgated till July 23d, 1862, 
assigned him to the command of the whole land-forces of the United States, as 
general-in-chief. 

General Halleck entered upon his new duties about the 25th of July, and, 
as soon as possible, visited the camp of the army of the Potomac, at Harrison's 



HENRY WAGER HALLECK. 221 

Landing. A survey of the condition of affairs satisfied him of the necessity of 
the withdrawal of that army from the peninsula, although this involved the rais- 
ing of the siege of Kichmond. He accordingly ordered General McClellan to 
remove his force (except General Keyes's corps, which was to be left at Fortress 
Monroe), as speedily as could be done consistently with the safety of the troops, 
to Alexandria, on the Potomac, seven miles below "Washington, the point from 
which he had embarked for the disastrous campaign on the peninsula. Mean- 
while, he ordered General Pope to advance toward Gordonsville, and threaten 
Eichmond from that direction, in order to create a diversion which should pre- 
vent the enemy from attacking General McClellan's rear in force. The two 
armies, once consolidated, could move forward on Eichmond, in connection with 
Burnside's corps, then at Fredericksburg, with irresistible power. 

The plan was an admirable one, and, had it been carried out as General 
Ilalleck designed, must have given us speedy possession of Virginia ; but the 
delay incident to the removal of so large a force compelled General Pope to 
i-etreat north of the Eappahannock ; and, during the subsequent delays and mis- 
understandings, his army was outflanked and compelled to fall back to the forti- 
fications around "Washington — the junction of the two forces not being eftected 
till after the defeat of August 30th, 1862. 

It is under these circumstances, which will so thoroughly test the great 
qualities of a commander, that we are called to leave our record of General 
Halleck's career: but though the clouds lower more darkly over our country 
than at any previous period of its history, we feel confident that the man is equal 
to the emergency ; that his vigorous intellect and his military skill will soon 
educe order from the present confusion ; and, if his efforts are not thwarted by 
the incompetency of subordinate generals, we may hope soon to see victory again 
perch upon our banners. 

In stature. General Halleck is somewhat below the medium height ; he is 
straight, active, well formed, and his gait and manner betoken the energetic sol- 
dier. His forehead is ample ; his eye a clear, brilliant hazel, of great penetrating 
power ; and, though his general expression is stem, his mouth indicates that he 
possesses a vein of humor. He has no fondness for fine clothes, and during his 
"Western campaign was oftener seen in citizen's dress than in uniform. When 
he appeared in full military dress, he seemed not at ease ; and, though a good 
rider — as, indeed, he ought to be, after his Californian experiences — he never 
appears worse than when in full dress, reviewing his troops. 

The love of order, promptness in dispatching business, and a capacity for 
comprehending the whole of a subject at a glance, are General Halleck's most 
marked characteristics. That he possesses some eccentricities, all who know him 
will readily admit. He is at times brusque almost to incivility ; utterly intol- 



222 HENRY WAGER HALLECK. 

erant of bores, wlioin he dismisses without ceremony ; and neglectful of those 
little arts by which so many men, of far less calibre, gain popiilarity. That he 
scorns to seek, and never won it with his soldiers, who, however, had the greatest 
respect for his intellectual capacity. His thoughtful pacings in front of his tent 
at Corinth, with his thumbs in the armholes of his vest, and his felt hat on the 
back of his head, and inclining upward at an angle of forty-five degrees, were 
often watched by the soldiers, who always concluded, and generally correctly, 
that " Old Brains," the soubriquet by which he was most commonly known in the 
camp, was solving some new problem, or preparing for some new movement to 
thwart and confound the enemy. 

These traits show conclusively what is the work to which General Halleck 
is best adapted. His qualities are not those which win the admiration and rouse 
the enthusiasm of an army ; he is not, and does not aim to be, a dashing com- 
mander; but his strong common sense, his thorough knowledge of militaiy 
science and military law, and his comprehensive and grasping intellect, qual.fy 
him, beyond any other man connected with the national armies, to fill success- 
fully, and with signal advantage to the country, the post to which he has been 
called by the President. 
34 





BRIG.GEN. JAMES S. M^ADSWORTH 



JAMES SAMUEL WADSWORTH. 

THE subject of this memoir was born at Geneseo, Livingston County, N. Y., 
October thirtieth, 1807. He was descended from an old Connecticut family, 
distinguished in colonial history, one of whose members, Captain Wadsworth, 
will be remembered as the patriot who hid the charter of Connecticut in the 
Charter Oak at Hartford when Governor Andros tried to get possession of it in 
1687. Mr. James Wadsworth, the father of the late General, emigrated from 
Connecticut to "Western New- York in 1790, and with his brother William (the 
General Wadsworth noted in the war of 1812) purchased a large tract of land on 
the Genesee Eivei", in what is now the town of Geneseo. In time he became one 
of the richest Jand-owners in the State. He was a zealous friend of all philan- 
thropic enterprises, and especially interested in the cause of education, to promote 
which he is said to have given, in the course of his life, nearly one hundred 
thousand dollars. General William Wadsworth died a bachelor, and the subject 
of this notice, being the heir of both his father and his uncle, found himself, after 
the death of the former in 1844, the owner of an estate of princely magnificence 
in one of the finest regions of New-York. He had been educated at Harvard and 
Yale Colleges, and after being graduated with honor, studied law at first in the 
office of Messrs. McKean and Denniston, at Albany, and afterward with Daniel 
Webster. He was admitted to the bar in 1833, but never practised, finding in 
agricultural pursuits and the management and improvement of his estates em- 
ployments much more to his lilting. Imitating the public spirit and benevolence 
of his father, he was not only a generous contributor to schools, colleges, and 
other humanitarian enterprises, but universally beloved for his private charities. 
His income was mainly derived from the rental of farms. When the wheat- 
midge made such ravages in the Genesee valley several years ago, his agents were 
instructed to settle with his tenants according to the amount of their crops, and 
not according to the terms of their contracts. More than twenty-five thousand 
dollars were thus relinquished in a single year, and when his treasurer informed 
him that, in consequence of these reductions, his bank account was largely over- 
drawn, he replied : " I can stand it as well as these poor hard-working men, and 
the rents will be released if I have to sell a farm to pay my expenses." 

In one instance, a man who occupied one of Mr. Wadsworth's smaller and 
poorer farms was reported by the agent as having failed to pay the rent. 1^-v. 



224 JAMES SAMUEL WADS WORTH. 

Waclsworth requested the delinquent tenant to call at the office, and listened to 
the story of his misfortunes. His crops had failed, a yoke of oxen — his principal 
reliance to do the work on the farm — had been lost by an accident, and, in one 
word, though he had worked hard, every thing had gone against him. Mr. 
Wadsworth handed him a receipt for the rent and a check for one hundred dol- 
lars. "Go, my friend," said he, "buy you another yoke of oxen and try it an- 
other year, and may God grant you prosperity." The tenant could only stammer 
out his thanks while with his hard hand he wiped the tears from his eyes. 

At the time of the Irish famine, Mr. Wadsworth sent to Ireland, beside a 
liberal contribution in money, a thousand bushels of corn fi-om his own granaries. 

He took a particular pleasure in contributing to the support of schools and 
colleges, and established at Geneseo a free public library, enriched with some 
thousands of rare volumes. On one occasion, when Martin Van Buren was his 
guest, Mr. "Wadsworth" took the ex-President to the public school in the village 
of Geneseo, saying : " Mr. Van Buren, I will show you one of the nurseries of 
republican institutions." Mr. Van Buren made a speech on that occasion, in the 
course of which he said : " The public school system of New-YoFk must always 
prosper, while it has such friends as the distinguished citizen whose hospitalities 
I enjoy, and to whom I am indebted for the pleasure of this interview." 

Though he never held office, Mr. Wadsworth took a warm interest in public 
questions, and was often a delegate to political conventions. A Democrat of the 
school of Jackson, he adhered, when the schi.sm in that party occurred, to the 
radical wing, and was a member of the State Convention at Syracuse in 1847, ■ 
when he voted for the resolution of Mr. D. D. Field, declaring " uncompromising 
hostility to the extension of slavery into territory now free, or which may here- 
after be acquired by the Government of the United States." Being chosen a 
delegate to the National Convention at Baltimore in 1848, he refused, in common 
with the other "Barnburners," to participate in Ijie proceedings on equal terms 
with the conservative or "Hunker" delegates. At the Utica State Democratic 
Convention, iu the fall of the same year, he was supported on the first ballot for 
the nomination of Governor, but withdrew in favor of General Dix. He was 
subsequently a candidate for elector at large on the Van Buren and Adams 
ticket. 

The passing of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and the general course of Mr. 
Pierce's administration, led to another division of the Democratic jsarty. A State 
Convention assembled at Syracuse in July, 1856, and Mr. Wadsworth was chosen 
President. In the course of his remarks on taking the chair, he said : " If 
Thomas Jefferson were living to-day, he would be driven an exile from his native 
State, and would not be allowed to migrate to the great domain which he added 
to the possessions of our country west of the Missouri. ... I had the honor 



JAMES SAMUEL W A D S W R T H . 225 

to be a member of the convention which assembled in this city prior to the Presi- 
dential election of 1848. That Convention laid, then and there, as one of the 
corner-stones of the Democracy of New-York, a stone of Jefferson granite — oppo- 
sition to the extension of slavery. I see about me the faces of many men who 
were, with me, delegates to the National Convention which assembled in Balti- 
more in that year ; and I claim that as representatives of the democracy of New- 
York we proved ourselves true to the great trust reposed in us." 

At the Eepublican Convention that fall, Mr. Wadsworth, after being sup- 
ported for Governor, was nominated for elector at large on the Fremont ticket. 
In 1860, he was offered the Eepublican nomination for Governor, but refused it 
in deference to the claims of Governor Morgan. " I consider the nomination of 
Governor Morgan," he wi-ote, " as due to him for the- faithful performance of his 
duties, and at the same time as the best course to maintain the integrity of the 
party." In the State Convention he accordingly warmly supported Mr. Morgan's 
renomination. He was himself made a candidate for Presidential elector, and as 
such cast his vote for Abraham Lincoln. At the beginning of the secession 
movement the Legislature of New- York appointed him a commissioner to the 
Peace Conference which met at Washington, February fourth, 1861. He signal- 
ized himself throughout its deliberations by a cordial support of eveiy plan of 
conciliation to which a Eepublican could honorably assent, and a stern resistance 
to every other. 

On the outbreak of hostilities he offered his services to the Government, and 
was proposed by Governor Morgan for a major-generalship, but he waived the 
honor in favor of General Dix. When the militia were called out, and the capi- 
tal cut oft' from regular communication with the North by the outbreak in Balti- 
more, he chartered two ships upon his own responsibility, loaded them with pro- 
visions, and proceeded with them to Annapolis, where they arrived most oppor- 
tunely to supply the pressing necessities of the Government. From that time he 
was employed by General Scott in the execution of several delicate and important 
military commissions. 

At the first battle of Bull Eun he served as volunteer aid, with the rank of 
major, on the stafl" of General McDowell, disjjlaying great gallantry and coolness 
and finally, after having his horse shot under him, seizing the colors of a panic- 
struck regiment, and calling upon the men to " rally once more for the glorious 
old flag." Long afterward the soldiers of his command uaed to tell how, in one 
of his many efforts to rally the broken troops, he personally led twenty-eight men 
against the enemy, of whom only four beside himself came back unhurt. After 
the battle he remained at Fairfax till late the next morning, "to see that the strag- 
glers and weary and worn-out soldiers were not left behind." 

On the ninth of August, 1861, he was commissioned Brigadier-General of 



226 JAMES SAMUEL WADSWORTH. 

volunteers, and assigned a brigade in McDowell's division, his troops consisting 
of the Twelfth, Twenty-first, Twenty-third, and Twenty-fifth ]Srew-Y"ork volun- 
teers. During the winter he was encamped near Manassas Junction, and he used 
to express his indignation at not being allowed to move forward and capture 
that post. 

It is said that, impatient of long inaction, he proposed to the War Depart- 
ment that if it would give him his brigade free from control, and let him fight the 
enemy when and where he wanted to, he would clothe, feed, and pay it. 

In March, 1862, the President appointed him Military Governor of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, and commander of the forces left for the defence of Washington 
when McClellan began the Peninsula campaign. It was while exercising the 
duties of this office that he received the Eepublican nomination for Governor of 
New-York, September twenty-fourth, 1862. In his letter to the Hon. Henry J. 
Raymond, President of the Convention, accepting the nomination, he expressed 
his cordial approval of Mr. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. On the twen- 
ty-seventh, he made a speech in Washington, in reply to a serenade. " We are 
in the pangs of dissolution," he said, " or we are in the pangs of exorcism. If we 
would save ourselves, we must cast out the devil which has tormented and dis- 
graced us from the hour of our national birth. We want peace, but more than 
we want peace we want a country. We want peace, but we want an honorable 
peace, a permanent peace, a solid peace." 

He was not elected. In the counties west of the Hudson River he received 
handsome majorities, but the unexpected strength of the Democratic party in 
New- York and the river counties led to the choice of Mr. Seymour by a majority 
of ten thousand. In December, having asked for active service, he was assigned 
command of a division in the Eleventh (Sigel's) army corps. He was not present 
at Burnside's attack on Fredericksburgh, but he took part in the battle of Chan- 
cellorsville under General Hooker. At Gettysburgh he commanded the First 
division of the First corps, receiving the first fire of the enemy, and distinguishing 
himself throughout the engagement by his personal daring and skilful manage- 
ment of his troops. Subsequently he was transferred to the Fourth division of 
the Fifth (Warren's) corps. On the first day of General Grant's battles in the 
Wilderness, May fifth, 1864, his division lost nearly a third of its numbers. .On 
the next day, Friday, the sixth, he was ordered to attack A. P. Hill. For more 
than half an hour th* conflict raged fearfully. Success appeared to waver ; and 
finally General Wadsworth ordered his men to charge. He was answered by a 
cheer. Spurring to the front, he was in the act of leading them on, hat in hand, 
when a bullet struck him in the forehead, killing him instantly. 

It had always been the General's habit to ride about the foremost line, and 
even amongst his skirmishers. He was very cool and collected under fire, and 



JAMES SAMUEL WADS WORTH. 22? 

though more than half a century old when he took up the profession of arms, he 
knew well how to handle his division ; how to hold a line of battle ; how to order 
and lead a charge ; and how to do the plain work, which he liked best. When 
gi-ay-headed " Pap Wadsworth " rode into the fight, his men knew there was hard 
work to be done, for he did not like to give up. At Gettysburgh he showed 
how much a plucky, tenacious leader can do with a handful of troops in keeping 
back and making cautious an overwhelming force of the enemy. 

Such qualities of course endeared him to his men, but they loved him still 
more for the care he took for their comfort. When his brigade was encamped in 
Virginia, in the winter of 1861, his men had the best of every thing that could 
be got, frequently " at Pap's expense." " Make out a requisition for extra shoes," 
he said to one of his officers, while preparing for his last campaign ; " about one 
pair of shoes for every two men. I think we can get them of the Quartermaster, 
but I will see to it that at any rate they are got. They will not be heavy to 
carry, and we shall find the value of them before we get through." 

"I remember," he added, "during the march through Maryland, before the 
battle of Gettysburgh, we passed over a tract of country extremely rugged and 
stony, and I saw not only men but officers walking along with bleeding feet. 
The men's shoes gave out entirely. It hurt my feelings more than I can tell you, 
to see the good fellows trudge along so. We came to a town on the line of 
march, and I, who was riding at the head of the column, spurred ahead to see if 
there were not some shoe-stores where I coiild purchase what was needed for the 
men. All the shops were closed ; the first men I saw were two sitting outside of 
a closed shop. 

" ' Are there any shoe-stores in this town ?' I asked. They replied, in a 
gruff way, that they could not tell, there might be and there might not. I told 
them that I wanted to buy shoes for my troops, who were barefooted. They re- 
plied they guessed I wouldn't get many. 

" At that," said the General, " I got angry. Said I, there are two pairs of 
shoes at any rate, which I see on your feet. Take them off instantly ! I shouted 
to them. They were obliged to do it. I went through the town, and took the 
shoes off every man's feet I could see ; and thus I raised about two hundred pairs 
in all. One fine old fellow, a miller, whom I met, I did not deprive of his own 
pair ; I rode i^p to him and asked if he had any shoes he could spare me, describ- 
ing the pitiful condition of my men. The old man said : ' I don't know if there's 
any shoes in the house or not, but' — looking down at his feet — 'here's a pair 
you're welcome to at any rate.' I would not let him take them off, but he gave 
me some from his house. All the rest I stripped." 



LEOITIDAS POLX. 

THE checkered career of the subject of this sketch possesses some features 
which the life of no other man, prominent in the Southern rebellion, has 
yet presented. Educated in the principles of military art and the science of the- 
ology — elevated by his talents and energy to the highest of spiritual positions — 
General Polk attained the " painful preeminence " of being the only member of 
the Protestant Episcopal Church who, in the present crisis of our country's his- 
tory, exchanged the bishop's crook for the sword of rebellion ; and forgetting 
his high calling in the service of the Prince of peace, plunged with devoted 
energy into all the horrors of war. 

Leonidas Polk was bom about tfie year 1806, at Ealeigh, North-Carolina. 
He was the son of William Polk. Having received an elementary education in 
his native State, he was admitted, in 1823, into the Military Academy at West- 
Point. While there he became a member of the staff of General Worth, and was 
appointed an officer of the battalion of cadets. In June, 1827, he graduated from 
the institution, ranking eighth in the class, which numbered among its members 
the present rebel General Eains, and entered the United States army as brevet 
Second Lieutenant of artillery. Preferring, however, civil to military life, he re- 
signed from the army in December of the same year, without having been assigned 
to any regiment in the service. He then began the study of divinity, and having 
passed through the requisite course of preparation, was duly ordained a clergyman 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He continued to act as a priest till 1838, 
when he received the appointment of Missionary Bishop of Arkansas and the 
Indian Territory south of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes, with a provisional 
charge of the diocese of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and the mission in 
the republic of Texas. This missionary see was retained by Bishop Polk for 
three years, when, in 1841, he was consecrated regular Bishop of the diocese of 
Louisiana. Twenty years of Episcopal labors followed this appointment, till 
finally, in 1861, the peacefulness of society was broken by the loud clamors of 
rebellion, and yielding to the excitement of the times. Bishop Polk determined to 
enter the service of the confederate States, claiming, however, with singular incon- 
sistency, to retain at the same time the spiritual care of his bishopric. "When," 
said he, "I accept a commission in the confederate army, I not only perform 
the duties of a good citizen, but contend for the principles which lie at the 




KT. W\iX. BISHOP rOi.K.OK LA. 



LEONIDAS POLK. 229 

founclation of our social, political, and religious polity." At the solicitation of 
Jefferson Davis, who had been with him as a cadet at West-Point, the war-loving 
Bishop accepted the office of Major-General, though he refused the less flattering 
position of a brigadier, and was assigned a command extending from the Arkansas 
River, on both sides of the Mississippi, to the northernmost limits claimed by the 
rebels, which included their encampment at Corinth, the northern portions of 
Mississippi and Alabama, the whole of Tennessee, and nearly all of Arkansas, 
having his headquarters at Memphis. During the summer of 1861, he hastened 
the occupation of Kentucky by the Union troops under Generals Grant and 
Anderson, in consequence of his encroachments upon her soil. This event was 
succeeded by the bloody battle of Belmont, and being followed by the capture of 
Forts Henry and Donelson and the evacuation of Bowling Green and Columbus, 
all of which places were within his department, he was superseded, and having 
been made Lieutenant-General, was placed in command of an army corps under 
Generals A. S. Johnston and Beauregard. In this capacity he participated in 
the battle of Shiloh, and in the operations at Corinth previous to its evacuation. 
The department was now placed under the control of General Braxton Bragg, and 
being appointed to the command of a corps in his army, Lieutenant-General Polk 
took part in the rebel movement through Tennessee into Kentucky during Sep- 
tember, 18Q2, and fought at the battle of Perryville on the eighth of the following 
month. A singular emergency in the course of this engagement gave occasion 
for a display of his remarkable presence of mind. Finding himself, at one stage 
of the action, suddenly in the midst of his enemies, he assumed an air of authori- 
ty, and commanding a regiment of Union troops to "cease firing," he passed, un- 
recognized as a rebel officer, through their ranks, succeeded in making his escape, 
and rejoined his own men, leaving his foes to admire and lament the cool self- 
possession which enabled him to slip from their hands. At the battle of Mur- 
freesboro, General Polk commanded the First corps of General Bragg's army, and 
participated in the struggles at Stone River, which were followed by the retreat 
of the rebel army to Tullahoma, Alabama. This place they were afterward, in 
the summer of 1863, compelled to evacuate, in consequence of being outflanked 
by General Rosecrans. In September of the same year, Genei'al Bragg was again 
confronted by General Rosecrans at Chickamauga, where a bloody engagement 
ensued, which, in the estimation of the rebel General, might have resulted in the 
destruction of the Union army had his commands been obeyed. In his official 
report of the battle, however. General Bragg accused General Polk of disobedience 
of orders, attributing the failure to his subordinate's dereliction of duty. For this 
misconduct General Polk was removed from his command on the thirtieth of 
September, and ordered to Atlanta under aiTest. The proud spirit of the warlike 
Bishop could ill brook such disgrace, but as the rebel President refused to accept 



230 LEON* IDAS POLK. 

his resignation, General Polk was forced to submit, and after a temporary inac- 
tivity, was placed in command of the camp of prisonei-s paroled by Generals Grant 
and Banks at Yicksburgh and Port Hudson. He continued in charge of these 
troops from th'e twentieth of Xovember, 1863, till January, 1864, when he again 
took the field, being appointed in the place of General Johnston to the temporary 
command of the rebel department of the Mississippi. When that State was pene- 
trated by General Sherman in February following, General Polk attempted to 
check the march of the Union army by organizing his command into two separate 
cavalry departments, of which the northern was to be commanded by General 
Forrest, with headquarters at Como, and the southern by General Lee, with head- 
quarters at Jackson. This disposition of forces seriously interfered with General 
Sherman's progress, though it did not prevent the accomplishment of his principal 
design. The obstacles thrown in his enemy's way, however, led General Polk to 
claim a victory, and drew from him a warm congratulatory order, dated at Demo- 
polis, Alabama, February twenty-sixth, IBGi, in which he thanked his men for 
their cheerful endurance of fatigue, and their finnness and good conduct through- 
out the campaign. The officers he commended for their skill and judgment, and 
declared, in allusion to General Sherman's " defeat and rout," as he termed them, 
that " never did a grand campaign, inaugurated with such pretensions, tei-minate 
more ingloriously." 

For some months succeeding these events General Polk remained in com- 
parative obscurity, till called upon to meet again on the fields of "Western Georgia 
his old antagonist. General Sherman, who was making rapid strides into the inte- 
rior of the State. On the afternoon of the fourteenth of June, 1864, General Polk 
(who commanded one wing of Johnston's army) rode to Pine Mountain in com- 
pany with Generals Hardee and Johnston, and dismounted for the purpose of 
making telescopic observations of the Union lines. While so engaged, a projec- 
tile from a Union battery struck him on the left arm, about the elbow, passed 
through his body, and carried off his right ai-m, producing instant death. 

In pereon, General Polk was of commanding appearance ; he was tall and 
erect, with deep-set eyes of a penetrating gi"ay, nose of Eoman build, mouth 
sunken, lips tightly compressed, and hair slightly tinged with white ,; his whole 
countenance and attitude bespeaking the soldier rather than the divine. In 
language, he was ready, quick, and fluent ; in conversation, aflable and courteous; 
but. it is to be deeply regretted that his mind, imbued with false and dangerous 
political principles, should have led him to throw off his Episcopal robes, the em- 
blem of spiritual supervision and watchfulness, and, assuming the uniform of a 
general, devote to an unhallowed cause the military ai-dor and education of his 
youth. 




if'byA^Paiclii. 



Gex, JOHN A , DIX, 



JOHN ADAMS DIX. 

JOHN ADAMS DIX, son of Lieutenant-Colonel Timothy Dis, of the United 
States army, was born at Boscawen, New Hampshire, on the 24th of July, 
1798. At a very early age he was sent to the academy at Salisbury, from which 
he was afterward transferred to the academy at Exeter, then under the direction 
of the celebrated Doctor Abbott, where he was the fellow-student of Doctor Jared 
Sparks, Honorable John G. Palfrey; the Peabodys, the Buckminsters, and others 
who have since acquired a just celebiity for their literary and scientific attain- 
ments. Early in 1811, while he was not yet fourteen years of age, he was trans- 
ferred to a college at Montreal, where, under the direction of the Fathers of the 
Sulpician Order, he diligently pursued his studies until July, 1812, when, in 
consequence of the opening of hostilities between the United States and Great 
Britain, he was comjDelled to return to his own country. 

After a short term of study at Boston, in December, 1812, young Dix was 
appointed a cadet in the army of the United States, and was ordered to Balti- 
more, where his father was then in command. His ofi&cial duties were confined 
to an assistant clerkship to his father, in the recruiting service ; and he was, for- 
tunately, enabled to continue his studies, under the direction of the able faculty 
of St. Mary's College, a privilege which he gladly enjoyed. He was, at that 
time, a master of Spanish, a good Latin and Greek scholar, and well acquainted 
with mathematics. Ho spoke French fluently; and in every respect he was a 
highly-cultivated and scholarly yoixng man. 

Li March, 1813, while on. a visit to the city of Washington, the secrctaiy of 
war offered him, without solicitation, the choice of a scholarship in the military 
academy at West Point, or an ensigncy in the army which was then about to 
take the field. He selected the latter, entered the fourteenth infantry, of which 
his father was then lieutenant-colonel, and immediately marched with his com- 
pany to Sackett's Harbor, in New York. 

In June, 1813, while yet in his fifteenth year, he was appointed adjutant of 
an independent battalion of nine companies, commanded by Major Upham, with 
which he descended the St. Lawreftce, and particijDated in the perils and hard- 
ships of that unfortunate expedition. 

His father having died in camp, in November, 1813, Lieutenant Dix sought 



232 JOHN ADAMS DIX. 

and obtained leave of absence, and returned home for tlie purpose, if possible, 
of saving something from the wreck of his father's estate, which had become 
greatly, and, as it proved, hopelessly disordered, during the absence of the 
latter in the service of his country. The lieutenant was then but little more 
than fifteen years of age, and his situation was one of great embarrassment and 
difficulty. He had lost his father, by whose prudent counsels he had been 
guided, and with his mother and nine children — all but two younger than him- 
self — he was thrown iipon the world with no other means of support than his 
lieutenant's commission. 

In August, 1814, he was transferred to the regiment of artillery of which 
Colonel Wallach was the commandant ; and under the guidance of that gallant 
officer he continued several years, pursuing his studies in history and the classics 
whenever his duties enabled him to do so. In 1819, he was called into the mili- 
tary family of General Brown, as an aide-de-camp ; and his leisiire hours were 
spent in reading law, with a view of leaving the army at an early day. 

In 1825, he was promoted to the command of a company in the third artil- 
-lery ; but his health having become impaired, he was compelled to ask for a 
leave of absence, and visited Cuba, where he passed the winter of 1825-'6. In 
the following summer, still in search of health, he visited Europe, and made an 
extended tour through the continent. 

In 1826, Captain Dix married Catharine Morgan, adopted daughter of John 
I. Morgan, Esq., of the city of New York ; and in December, 1828, he retired 
from the army, establishing himself soon afterward in Cooperstown, Otsego 
county, New York, in the practice of law. He also entered jDolitical life, and it 
was not long before he became one of the most active and influential members 
of the Democratic party in the interior of the state. In 1830, Governor Throop 
called him into the public service as adjutant-general, a post of duty which he 
filled with honor to himself and singular advantage to the militia of the state. 

In January, 1833, he was chosen secretary of state of New York, and be- 
came, ex officio, superintendent of common schools, a regent of the university, a 
member of the canal board, and one of the commissioners of the canal fund. It 
was he who introduced and established school-district libraries ; and his codifica- 
tion of the laws and decisions under which the common schools of the state are 
governed, is a monument to his industry and official integrity. As a regent of 
the university and a member of the canal boards, he also rendered very efficient 
services to the state ; and he retired from office with well-earned honors. 

In 1841, Mr. Dix was elected a member of the assembly of the state, from 
the county of Albany ; and in the struggle which ensued concerning the financial 
policy of the state of New York, under the leadership of the sturdy Michael 
Hoffman, he took a very active part. In the extra session which followed, 



JOHN ADAMS DIX. 283 

wherein the question of a division of the state into congressional districts was 
considered, and opposed with great skill and energy, Mr. Dix was again con- 
spicuous; and in two very able sjDeeches he urged an acquiescence in the meas- 
ure, although at the same time he maintained that the interference of Congress in 
the matter was unnecessary and unauthorized. 

In the fall of 184:2, Mr. Dix went abroad, in consequence of the ill health 
of his wife ; spending the winter in Madeira, and the following year in the south- 
ern countries of Europe. He returned to America in June, 1844, and in Janu- 
ary, 1845, he was elected a Senator in the Congress of the United States, to fill 
the vacancy occasioned by the elevation of Silas "Wright to the gubernatorial chair 
of the state. During the succeeding four years he was among the most useful 
members of that distinguished body ; and, as chairman of the committee of com- 
merce, he rendered very valuable services to his country. During his official 
term the annexation of Texas, the war with Mexico, the Oregon boundary, the 
French spoliations, and the right of Congress to prevent the extension of slavery 
into the territories, were the great subjects at issue ; and on the latter question, 
especially, Mr. Dix took a decided and leading position, representing with great 
ability " The Barnburners" or free-soil Democrats of New York. 

In the fall of 1848, Mr. Dix was the candidate of his party for governor of 
the state of New York ; but, of course, he was not successful, and in March, 
1849, he retired to private life. In 1853, he was appointed assistant treasurer 
of the United States, in New York ; but soon afterward, having become dissat- 
isfied with the official conduct of President Pierce, he resigned his office, and 
went abroad. 

In May; 1860, Mr. Dix was appointed postmaster of the city of New York ; 
and in January, 1861, when the public danger from the defection of the Southern 
states became manifest, he was summoned to Washington by President Buchanan, 
and on the 11th of that month succeeded Mr. Thomas as secretary of the treasury. 
On the 29th of January, he sent the justly celebrated telegraphic dispatch to 
Mr. William Hemphill Jones, whom he had previously sent to New Orleans, 
with orders to save, if possible, the revenue-cutters M'Clelland and Cass ; and 
^' If any one attemj^ts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spotT has 
since become one of the watchwords of our countrymen in their struggle with 
their rebellious brethren. 

On the 6th of March, 1861, Mr. Dix retired from the treasury department, 
returning to his home in New York ; and on the 20th of May, when the assault 
on Fort Sumter aroused the outraged North, he was called to preside at the im- 
mense meeting of the citizens of New York in Union Square, which had been 
convened to take measures for the defence of the constitution and the enforce- 
ment of the laws. "The Union Defence Committee," which was organized at 



234 JOHN ADAMS DIX. 

that meeting, and on whicli so mucli depended in tlie earlier days of the struggle, 
called him to its head ; and, as its chairman, he was one of the most active and 
intelligent of its members. 

On the 6th of May, he was appointed a major-general in the volunteer ser- 
vice of New York ; and, on the lith of June, the President appointed him to a 
similar position in the army of the United States. On tlie 20th of July, having 
been appointed commandant of the department of Maryland, he was ordered to 
proceed to Baltimore, where he established his head-quarters. 

Under his directions, the expedition to the county of Accomac, in Virginia, 
commanded by General Lockwood, was organized and successfully prosecuted ; 
and his energetic and vigilant prosecution of his duties was displayed in the 
complete quiet which prevailed throughout his department. 

In May, 1862, he was transferred to the command of the military depart- 
ment of Eastern Virginia ; and established his head-quarters at Fortress Monroe, 
^'^irginia. 

The last civil duty which General Dix performed was as a member of the 
commission to consider the several cases of alleged treason among the rebel pris- 
oners in the custody of the United States authorities. 

General Dix possesses great energy of character; and he has always dis- 
charged the varied duties to which he has been called, with honor to himself and 
advantage to the country. 





'^S-^bjA.H.Bi'.A 



REAR ADMIRAT. D. D. PORTER. 



DAYID D. POETEE. 

DAVID D. PORTER is the youngest son of the late Commodore Porter, the 
distinguished commander of the Essex during the war of 1812, and, after 
the peace, commander-in-chief for a few years of the naval forces of Mexico. 
David was born in Philadelphia, and while he was still quite a boy, sailed with 
his father in 1823 on a cruise against the pirates of the West-Indies. Commo- 
dore Porter had command of a fleet of twenty vessels, with which he prosecuted 
for some time a most vigorous search after the buccaneers ; but in October, 1824, 
two of his officers having been imprisoned and otherwise ill-treated at Faxardo, 
on the island of Porto Rico, he landed a large force and compelled the authorities 
to apologize. For thus exceeding. his powers he was recalled and suspended. 
His son entered the service as midshipman in February, 1829, and was ordered 
to the Constellation frigate, thirty-six, the flag-ship of Commodore Biddle.' 
With this officer he cruised in the MediteiTanean until 1831, and in 1832, after 
a few months' leave of absence, returned to the same station in the forty-four gun 
frigate United States, the flag-ship of Commodore Patterson. He passed his ex- 
amination in 1835. From 1836 to 1841 he was employed in the coast survey and 
in several short exploring expeditions. In the latter year he was ordered to the 
frigate Congress, with the rank of Lieutenant, and after cruising four years with 
that vessel in the Mediterranean and Brazilian waters, he was assigned to special 
duty, in the latter part of 1845, at the National Observatory in Washington. 
For a time during the Mexican war he had charge of the naval rendezvous at 
New-Orleans, and afterward commanded the coast-survey schooner Petrel. 

The immense passenger-traffic which sprang up about this time between the 
Atlantic and Pacific coasts, in consequence of the discovery of the California gold- 
fields, offered the Government an excellent opportunity to perfect its young naval 
officers in the art of navigation by a little practical schooling ou the California 
steamships. Porter was one of the first to whom a command was given, and in 
1849 he he left New- York as captain of the Panama, one of the line destined for 
service on the Pacific side. The passage around Cape. Horn was attended with 
incidents which demonstrated Lieutenant Porter's superior qualifications for his 
post in the most conclusive manner, and having carried his vessel safely into 
Panama Bay, he was ordered home to take command of the mail-steamer Georgia 
He continued iu this employment about three years ; then had about two years' 



236 DAVID D. PORTER. • 

leave of absence ; in 1855 took command of the steamship Supply ; and after that 
was engaged in various duties of no special importance, being statioued for a 
while at the Portsmouth Navy- Yard. At the time of the attack on Fort Sumter 
he was under orders to join the coast survey service on the Pacific ; but fortunate- 
ly he had not sailed when the necessity for his services at home became apparent. 
Through the resignation of disloyal officers he rose, by regular promotion, to the 
grade of Commander. His first service during the rebellion was with the steam- 
sloop Powhatan, on the blockade of Pensacola ; but as soon as the expedition 
against New-Orleans was planned, he was ordered North and placed in charge of 
the mortar-flotilla. This miniature fleet, destined to perform such important 
service on the Western waters, consisted of twenty small schooners, with five 
steamers to manage them. Each schooner was armed with a single gigantic mor- 
tar, throwing a thirteen-inch shell, and two small guns, and there was a small 
armament also on tlie steamers. The bombardments of Forts Jackson and St. 
Philip, which lasted six days and five nights, (April eighteenth to twenty- 
fourth, 1862,) was performed chiefly by this flotilla. The position of each vessel 
was previously marked out for it by officers of the coast survey, and as soon as 
Farragut was ready to begin operations they anchored close in shore, at the desig- 
nated spots, with their masts and rigging dressed off with bushes, so that they 
were never actually seen by the enemy during the whole course of the bombard- 
ment. As a consequence of this prudent measure, the flotilla received but little 
damage. One of the schooners was sunk, but the loss of life was very slight. 

When Farragut pushed up the river with his fleet. Commander Porter was 
charged with the duty of engaging the Forts so as to draw their fire. Notwith- 
standing the severity of the bombardment and the accuracy of Porter's fire — an 
rmusually large proportion of the shells having, as was afterward ascertained, 
fallen inside the Forts — those works were not so much injured as might have been 
expected, partly on account of the soft and sjDongy character of the ground, into 
which the shells often peneti'ated as much as twenty feet ; exploding at such a 
depth, they merely upheaved the earth and did little harm. 

After the surrender of the Forts Commander Porter was ordered to Ship 
Island, but he soon moved up the river again to participate in FaiTagut's attack 
on Vicksburgh, opening fire on the night of June twenty-sixth to twenty-seventh. 
The expedition was a failure, and as the season was far advanced and the water 
getting low, the fleet returned to New-Orleans. Porter was now sent with his 
mortar-boats to the James Eiver. In October, he was assigned to the command 
of the Western flotilla, with the rank of Acting Eear-Admiral, in place of Com- 
modore C. H. Davis, appointed Chief of the Bureau of Navigation. The full rank 
of Eear-Admiral was soon afterward conferred upon him. 

During the year 1863 he was constantly emjiloyed, principally in conjunction 



DAVID U. PORTER. 237 

with the land forces. His fleet, now Icnown as the Mississippi fiotilla, consisted 
of more than one hundred vessels, j^icrced for four hundred and sixty-two guns, 
and manned by five thousand five hundred men. It took part in the capture of 
Arkansas Post, January eleventh, in the long series of ojoerations which culminated 
in the taking of Vicksburgh and Port Hudson, and in several imjjortant expedi- 
tions up the White and Ked Rivers. It also rendered valuable service in patrol- 
ling the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, and dispersing the guerrillas who 
fired upon supply steamers and transports. 

Admiral Porter accompanied General Banks on his disastrous expedition 
against Shreveport in the spring of 1864, and rendered all the service that the 
natui-e of the circumstances permitted in extricating the army from their perilous 
situation. By a sudden fall in the river, he found his vessels caught above the 
rapids, and they were only saved by the skill and ingenuity of Lieutenant-Colonel 
Bailey, an engineer officer, who floated them over the rapids by building a dam 
a little way below. In his graphic and well-written report of the expedition. 
Rear- Admiral Porter paid this officer a very high compliment. 

Admiral Porter is a brother of the late Commodore W. D. Porter, who com- 
manded the gunboat Essex on the Mississippi River at the time of the destruction 
of the rebel ram Arkansas, and a cousin of Major-General Fitz-John Porter. 



l^ATHAITIEL PEEI^TISS BAI^KS. 

S bobbin-boy, machinist, editor, lawyer, and representative, studious, ener- 
getic, and aspiring; as Congressman, and governor of his native state 
statesmanlike and comprehensive ; as major-general, clear, earnest, and practical 
— the life of N. P. Banks exhibits a career peculiarly American in every feature, 
and is well worthy of study by the American people themselves as a " repre- 
sentative life," and also by all who have any desire to understand that riddle of 
all foreign writers, " the American character." 

Nathaniel Prentiss Banks was born in "Waltham, Massachusetts, Janu- 
ary 30th, 1816. "Waltham was even then a busy place, and the roar of engines 
and the whirr of looms and spindles were the familiar circumstances of daily life 
to its people. Nathaniel was the son of an overseer in a cotton factory ; and 
when he had years enough — a very few suffice — he became himself a "bobbin- 
boy" under his father's direction. Some few months' early attendance at a common 
school had instilled into him, however, a thirst for knowledge ; and all his hours 
" not occupied in the factory were devoted to the grave and important studies of 
history, political economy, and the science of government." From the factory 
he went to the forge, and learned the machinist's trade. Literary aspirations 
came vipon him in connection with the representations of a dramatic company 
formed among his associates, with whom he played the principal parts with great 
success ; he lectured before lyceums, temperance societies, and political assem- 
blages ; became editor of the village paper of his native place, and subsequently 
of a paper at Lowell, in which hg advocated the principles of the Democratic 
party. Through this means he entered somewhat advantageously upon the field 
of politics, and received an office, under the Polk administration, in the Boston 
custom-house. For six years he was a candidate for a seat in the Massachusetts 
legislature, and was defeated every successive year; but in the seventh year, 
1848, he was elected representative for Waltham. His first speech, delivered 
February 23d, 1849, was on the presentation of certain resolutions on the slavery 
question ; and its purport was, that the Democratic party, in the extension of ter- 
ritory, was not influenced by any desire for the extension of slavery. A wide 
publicity was given to this speech, and the Democrats of Massachusetts were so 
impressed by it, that Mr. Banks was recognized as a leader in that party. Honors 




%^ ^^fSr=5^ 






MAJ. GEKNATHL P.PANKS. 



NATHANIEL PRENTISS BANKS. 239 

followed fast. In 1850, he was simultaneously elected to the state senate by the 
Democracy of Middlesex county, and to the house by his constituents of Wal- 
tham. He decided to remain in the house, and was chosen speaker by a large 
majority on the first ballot. He held this position for two successive sessions. 
Upon the rolls of the house, for his first year in it, Mr. Banks is entered as a 
machinist, but in the next year as a lawyer. 

In 1852, Mr. Banks was elected to Congress, by an affiliation of the Demo- 
crats of his district with the American party, oi' " Know-Nothings." Upon this 
canvass the American party was veiy largely in the majority, and Mr. Banks 
"avowed his sentiments freely and fully." In the summer of 1853, he was 
chosen president of the convention called to revise the constitution of Massachu- 
setts. Apparently he had been mistaken in the Democratic party, for he soon 
transferred his allegiance to the new Eepublican organization. He was twice 
re-elected to the national House of Representatives, and served in the thirty- 
third, the thirty-fourtla^ and part of the first session of the thirty-fifth Congress. 
He very strongly opposed the Nebraska- Kansas bill, and argued against it that 
wherever the government' obtained the right to acquire territory, there they got 
the right to control it. Mr. Banks also came somewhat conspicuously before the 
country by the part he took in the debate brought on by a resolution in refer- 
ence to the society of " Know-Nothings," as to whether or no the pope claimed a 
temporal power over the members of the Roman Catholic Church. 

Upon the meeting of the thirty-fourth Congress, parties were pretty well 
broken up and complicated, and a great difficulty was found in the choice of a 
Speaker. For nine weeks the organization of the House was delayed by the 
obstinacy of party men. Finally, it was determined that the recipient of a plu- 
rality of votes should be declared Sjjeaker ; and, in accordance with this rule 
Mr. Banks was chosen to the position. Mr. Banks presided over the delibera- 
tions of the House with marked ability and fairness; or, in the words of a 
Southern member, he "stood so straight, that he almost leaned over to the 
other side." On the adjournment of Congress, a vote of thanks was passed, 
upon the acceptable manner in which he had discharged the difficult duties of 
his position. 

In 1856, Mr. Banks was elected governor of his native state, and resigned 
his seat in the House on the 24th of December. To his new position he did such 
honor, that he was re-elected in 1857, and again in 1858. During three terms he 
administered the government of the state of Massachusetts with eminent wisdom, 
and finally retired from that position crowned with the high respect of his fellow- 
citizens of all parties throughout the state ; a more striking example than any 
other chapter of our American history furnishes, of the dignity and honor to 
which native energy and genius may attain. 



240 NATHANIEL PRENTISS BANKS. 

Soon after the expiration of his third gubernatorial term, Mr. Banks deter- 
mined to abandon the field of politics, and with that view removed from his 
native state to that of Illinois, where he became associated in the conduct of a 
railroad. In that sphere he continued until the war actually broke out, when he 
again became "a public man." 

He was appointed a major-general in the United States army, May 30th, 
1861, and his appointment was confirmed by the Senate on the 8d of Au- 
gust. Major-Generals M'Clellan and Fremont were confirmed on the same day. 
Previous to his confirmation (June 10th), General Banks was ordered to the 
command of the department of Annapolis, with his head-quarters at Baltimore. 
In this command he superseded General Cadwallader, who was appointed to a 
division destined to co-operate with General Patterson toward Harper's Feny. 
Upon General Banks'^ accession to the command at Baltimore, the treasonable 
element of the population there, while believed to be very active in the further- 
ance of schemes for revolt, was certainly very quiet. Bi^iler had fairly scotched 
the serpent of secession in that city ; but under the lax rule of Cadwallader, it 
had revived. Yet the leaders were prudent, and the transference of the command 
to a new officer was a sufficient indication that the government was dissatisfied 
with the easy manner in which they had been dealt by, and they became cau- 
tious. But on June 27th they were surprised, and the whole j^eople of the loyal 
states gratified, by an energetic act of the new commander. At three, A. M., on 
that day, George P. Kane, marshal of jjolice of Baltimore, was arrested at his 
house, and imprisoned in Fort M'Henry. In explanation of this act, General 
Banks issued on the same day a proclamation, superseding Marshal Kane and 
the board of police, in which he said : " I desire to support the public authorities 
in all appropriate duties .... and in every municipal regulation and public stat- 
ute consistent with the constitution and laws of the United States and of Mary- 
land. But unlawful combinations of men, organized for resistance to such laws, 
that provide hidden deposits of arms and ammunition, encourage contraband 
traffic with men at war with the government, and, while enjoying its protection 
and privileges, stealthily await opportunity to combine their means and forces 
with those in rebellion against its authority, are not among the recognized or 
legal rights of any class of men, and cannot be permitted under any form of gov- 
ernment whatever. Such combinations are well known to exist in this depart- 
ment The chief of police is not only believed to be cognizant of these facts, 

but in contravention of his duty, and in violation of law, he is, by direction or 
indirection, both witness and protector to the transactions and the parties engaged 
therein. Under such circumstances, the government cannot regard him other- 
wise than as the head of an armed force hostile to its authority, and acting in 
concert with its avowed enemies." For these reasons, Marshal Kane was super- 



NATHANIEL PRENTISS BANKS. 241 

seded and held a prisoner ; and Colonel Kenly, of the first Maryland regiment, 
was appointed provost-marshal of the city of Baltimore, ''to superintend and 
cause to be executed the police laws." Against this action of General Banks the 
board of police protested, and pronounced it "an arbitrary exercise of military 
power, not warranted by any provision of the constitution or laws of the United 
States." They declared also that there was a suspension of the police law, and 
that the men of the police force were off duty, and thus in retahation virtually 
invited a reign of lawlessness. General Banks, in response to this protest, pub- 
lished a letter of instruction to Marshal Kenly, by which he required him " to 
take especial notice that no opinion, resolution, or other act of the late board of 
commissioners, can operate to limit the effective force of the police law, or to 
discharge any ofiicer engaged in its execution." Yet the police board, though 
thus superseded and dissolved by the military commandant, "continued their 
sessions daily, refused to recognize the officers and men selected by the provost- 
. marshal for the protection of the city, and held subject to their orders the old 
police force, a large body of armed men, for some purpose not known to the gov- 
ernment, and inconsistent with its peace and security." For the preservation of 
the public peace, therefore, General Banks caused the arrest, on July 1st, 1861, 
of all the members of the police board, whose head-quarters were found upon 
examination to resemble " in some respects a concealed arsenal ;" and to antici- 
pate any action of their adherents, he at the same time moved a portion of the 
force under his command, hitherto encamped beyond the city limits, into the city. 
On the 10th of July, General Banks appointed a permanent police marshal in 
the place of Colonel Kenly, and, trouble being no longer feared from the seces. 
sion plotters, ordered the military occupation to cease, and the regiments to 
occupy their former positions in the suburbs. Complete tranquillity was thus 
once again established in Baltimore. 

Major-General Patterson, of the Pennsylvania volunteers, in command in the 
Valley of Virginia, was honorably discharged by general order, his temi of ser- 
vice being expired, on July 19th. On the same day, General John A. Dix, of 
the United States army, was ordered to relieve General Banks in the command at 
Baltimore, and General Banks was ordered to assume command of the army 
under Patterson. His department was designated the department of the Shenan- 
doah, with its head-quarters in the field. General Banks reached Harper's Ferry 
and assumed the command of his department, July 25th. This army, when the 
battle of Bull Run was fought, had numbered fourteen thousand effective men. 
But it was composed, in the greater part, of the Pennsylvania volunteers, enlisted 
for three months, whose terms expired about the period that General Banks was 
placed in command. He was thus left with only the skeleton of an army, to 
cover the approach to Washington most favorable for the rebels, and to hold in 



242 NATHANIEL PRENTISS BANKS. 

check all that portion of the rebel force which had not accompanied General 
Johnson to Manassas previous to the battle at Bull Run. 

Immediately on his assumption of the command, General Banks withdrew 
his troops from Harper's Ferry to the Maryland side of the Potomac, and formed 
his camp in a strong position under the Maryland Heights, and near to Sandy 
Hook. There his force was rapidly organized, and increased by the addition of 
well-disciplined regiments, until it amounted in all to about twenty-five thousand 
men ; and in this position he continued, still occupied with the organization and 
discipline of his force, up to the movement into Virginia, in 1862. 

Early in May, 1861, when the President had just called out seventy-five 
thousand men for three months, and long before the country at large realized the 
magnitude of the rebellion, Mr. Banks, then a simple citizen of Chicago, expressed 
a very strong opinion of the inadequacy of the measures taken by the government 
to put down the revolt. His words then spoken, and subsequently published by 
the " Chicago Tribune," are as follows : 

" This rebellion cannot be put down by the force which the government has 
now called out. Seventy-five thousand militia will prove wholly inadequate to 
restore jieace to the country. The government, and, he feai-ed, the people of the 
loyal states, immensely underrated the strength and means which the rebel chiefs 
can command. This is a rebellion of the slave-power against a republican form 
of government. That political element which has been strong enough to rule 
this nation for fifty years, cannot be reduced to subjection to the constitution by 
a few regiments of militia. Before this gigantic slaveholders' conspiracy can be . 
crushed, it will tax to the utmost the power and endurance of the nation. The 
people will have to put forth an effort which has no parallel in modern times. 
He regarded this as the most formidable as well as atrocious rebellion which has 
occurred since the middle ages. The Sepoy insurrection was no circumstance to 
it, either in strength or wickedness. The Sepoys did not revolt for the purpose 
of strangling free government and setting up a slave despqtism, as the authors of 
the secession rebellion have done. 

" The Sepoys were reduced to obedience in a few months by less than eighty 
thousand British ti-oops. Four times that many will not suffice to crush out the 
slaveholders' revolt against the Union. If he was at the head of public affairs, 
he would call out five hundred thousand men for the war. He would charter 
every merchant steamer and ship fit for naval service. As soon as the army was 
equipped, and prepared to march, he would start one column of one hundred and 
fifty thousand men from Washington to Richmond. Simultaneously, he would 
move another column of one hundred thousand Western men down the Missis- 
sippi, to reach Memphis by the time the Eastern army got to Richmond. He 
would send a division of fifty thousand men from Louisville to Nashville, to 



NATHANIEL PRENTISS BANKS. §43 

supjiort and protect the Union men of central and eastern Tennessee, and the 
mountain country of Georgia, Alabama, and North Carolina. Before these col- 
umns moved, he would fit out an expedition by sea, and place fifty thousand 
soldiers aboard the fleet, to hover along the Southern coast from Charleston to 
Galveston. This would keep the rebels at home in the coast states, as they 
would be in constant dread of a visit to every port, not knowing where the fleet 
might land the army. This force on shipboard, Mr. Banks thought, would com- 
pel to remain in their own states four times the men in the expedition. It wotild 
be a movable column, which, by the aid of wind and steam, might be off Charles- 
ton to-day, and land at Savannah to-morrow. Hence its power and efiiciency. 

" The remaining one hundred and fifty thousand troops he would distribute 
in divisions at Washington, New York, St. Louis, Baltimore, and other points, 
to act as reserves and supports wherever the exigencies of the campaign might 
most need them. He would keep recruiting of&ces open wherever a regiment 
had been raised, to fill up the vacancies in the ranks caused by battle or sickness. 
He would call upon the people to organize a national home guard of half a mill- 
ion men, to take care of traitors in their midst, and to put their shoulders to the 
wheel for a final effort, if it were found that the first half-million were not able 
to crush out the foul rebellion." 

" When asked how he would procure the money necessary to equip and 
support so vast an army, he promjDtly replied : ' Open a national loan, as the 
Emperor Napoleon did, and appeal to the patriotism of the whole people ; take 
all sums offered, from the widow's mite up to Astor's millions. The treasury 
would be abundantly supplied by the subscriptions of the masses. Only let the 
people see that the government is in real earnest in its purpose to put down the 
rebellion, and it will not call on Hercules for help in vain.' " 

On the eighth of February, 1862, General Banks commenced active opera- 
tions by moving up the Shenandoah Valley, and driving the rebels before him. 
He had advanced as far as Hamsonburgh, when an order fi-om the War Ofiice 
directed him to send a portion of his troops to reeenforce McDowell, and to re- 
treat to Strasburgh. The rebels immediately followed him in strong force, but he 
succeeded in reaching Williamsport without material disaster, on the twenty-sixth 
of May. 

In June, his forces were consolidated with those of General McDowell, and 
placed under Gen^-al Pope ; and, on the eighth of August, General Banks suc- 
cessfully fought the rebels under Jackson and Ewell, at Cedar Mountain, where 
his personal bravery and good management were conspicuous. 

During the second battle of Bull Eun, General Banks was stationed on the 
extreme left of Pope's line, as a reserve. Shortly after the battle, he was ap- 
pointed to the military command at Washington. There he remained until sent, 



244 NATHANIEL PRENTISS BANKS. 

in November, 1862, to relieve General Butler in the department of the South- 
West. He arrived at New-Orleans on December seventeenth, and immediately 
despatched an expedition to Baton Rouge, which was retaken, and one to Galves- 
ton in Texas, which met with defeat. 

His future operations up the Teche and Atchafalaya were of such a prompt 
and energetic character as to cause a most disastrous defeat to the enemy in every 
engagement. At Bute la Eose the batteries were silenced, one thousand five 
hundred prisoners taken, besides the salt-works of Petite Anse, and a number 
of rebel gunboats were destroyed. 

On May twenty-third, 1863, he invested Port Hudson, and placed it in a state 
of siege, finally compelling it to suiTcnder unconditionally on the eighth of July. 
Soon after he ordered the enforcement of the enrolment act in his department, 
and then prepared to accompany his forces into Texas, leaving New-Orleans on 
the twenty-seventh of October, with a fleet of about twenty vessels accompanied 
by gunboats. 

On the thirty-first of October, he landed at Brazos Island, and after various 
successes in other places. Corpus Christi was cajDtured on the fifteenth of Novem- 
ber, and two days after the city of Aransas. General Banks afterward returned 
to New-Orleans, leaving the forces in Texas vmder command of General Dana. 

In March, 1864, he recommenced active operations, and on the twenty-second 
he departed for the Bed River. On the way he landed at Port Hudson, and in- 
spected the negro troops and fortifications. He thence proceeded to Alexandria, 
where he established his headquarters, and immediately went on to Grand Ecore. 

On the eighth of April, the enemy was encountered in superior force at the 
Sabine Cross-Roads, and after a gallant resistance the Union troops were repulsed. 
General Banks was present throughout the fight, and showed his accustomed 
coolness and bravery. At a council of war, it was decided to withdraw the troops 
to Pleasant Hill, where General A. J. Smith had arrived. The enemy followed, 
but on renewal of the battle on the following day, were severely defeated. At 
this time, the Red River was lower than it had been known for years, and in 
consequence, it was deemed advisable for the army to fall back without delay 
upon Alexandi'ia, where it arrived on the fourth of May. Meanwhile the gun- 
boats that had ascended the river were caught by the receding waters and detained 
above the falls, tmtil, through the remarkable skill, ingenuity, and indefatigable 
labors of Lieutenant-Colonel Bailey, acting engineer of the Nineteenth coi-ps, in 
constructing a dam, they were released. The army then evacuated Alexandria, 
and descended toward Simmsport, at the mouth of Red River, where General 
Banks arrived on the sixteenth of May. General Canby also arrived there from 
"Washington to assume command of military operations, and General Banks re- 
turned to New-Orleans. 




^^* 



:^L^J- gfa"^ phiup KE.^RNF,T 



PHILIP KEAEKT. 

1% TAJOR-GENERAL KEARNY was bom in New- York City, June second,. 
J3_J_ 1815. His father was a descendant of an Irish family long settled in New- 
Jei-sey, and his mother a daughter of John Watts, the founder of the Leake and 
Watts Orphan House. From boyhood he manifested a strong preference to a 
military career ; nevertheless, in obedience to the wishes of his family, he passed 
tlirough Columbia College, and began to study law. By the time he was twenty- 
two, however, his soldierly propensities got the better of him, and he obtained a 
commission as Second Lieutenant in the First dragoons, then commanded by his 
uncle, Stephen Watts Kearny, the conqueror of New-Mexico and California, who 
died, a brevet Major-General, in 1848. He saw much hard service with his gal- 
lant relative, chiefly fighting the Lidians on the Western frontier, and acquired 
such a reputation as a cavalry officer that about 1838 or 1839 he was sent abroad 
by our Government to study and report upon the French cavalry tactics. With 
this object in view he entered the celebrated cavalry school at Saumur, and soon 
afterward went to Algeria, to witness the operation of the French system in the field. 
Lieutenant Kearny, however, was not a man who could be an idle spectator of a 
battle. Joining the First Chasseurs d'Afrique as a volunteer, he fought through 
Marshal Valee's campaign against the Ai'abs, was present at the foi'cing of the 
passes of the " Gates of Iron," and by several dashing exploits won the cross of 
the Legion of Honor. He was the idol of his brother officers, who loved him for 
his companionable qualities and admired his heroic bravery. 

Returning home in 1840, he was appointed in November of that year aid-de- 
camp to General Macomb, and in December, 1841, aid-de-camp to General Scott 
He had already, while in Europe, been promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant, 
and in 1846 he became Captain. At the outbreak of the Mexican war he was 
ordered with his squadron (he had resigned his staff' appointment) to Mexico, 
where his dragoons formed the body-guard of General Scott. Splendidly equipped 
and mounted, at their Captain's private expense, Kearny's Horse were the pride 
of the army, and in several engagements covered themselves with distinction. 
In the Valley of Mexico Captain Kearny commanded his regiment, and for his 
gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco received the brevet of Major. After the 
latter engagement he pursued the flying Mexicans as far as the gates of the City of 
Mexico. Here his troops, checked by a heavy fire of artillery, began to waver, 



246 PHILIP KEARNY. 

whereupon Kearny dashed forward alone ; the soldiers followed him, and the bat- 
tery was taken. In this affair, for which General Scott bestowed upon him the 
highest praise, Kearny lost his left arm. , 

After the conclusion of peace he was again ordered to the Western frontier, 
and commanded an exjjedition against the Indians of the Columbia Eiver. In 
1851 he resigned his commission and went to Europe. In retirement he pursued 
las professional studies with all his former ardor, associating constantly with mili- 
tary men, and making his hospitable house at Paris the rendezvous esjjecially of 
such officers of the United States army as pleasure or duty chanced to bring to 
Eurojje. There might be met Beauregard, Lee, the Johnstons, Jackson, and 
others now distinguished in the rebel army. 

When the Italian war began, he joined the staff of the French General Mori-is 
as a volunteer aid, was present at Magenta aud Solferino, and conducted himself 
with such gallantry that the Emperor bestowed upon him a second decoration of 
the Legion of Honor. 

The attack upon Fort Sumter in the spring of 1861 brought him, as might 
have been expected, immediately to America. He offered his services to General 
Scott, was received with warmth, and soon after the battle of Bull Eun was put in 
command of a New-Jersey brigade in General Franklin's division of the army of 
the Potomac. His commission as Brigadier-General of volunteers was dated May 
seventeenth, 1861. On the organization of army corps, in March, 1862, he was 
attached to the First corps. General McDowell, but soon afterward he was pro- 
moted to the command of a division in Heintzelman's (the Third) corps, with 
which he served throughout the Chickahominy campaign. In the battle of Wil- 
liamsburgh, after Hooker had been for an hour or two struggling against an over- 
whelming force in front of Fort Magruder, Kearny was ordered to his relief 
Five guns had already been lost and ammunition was beginning to give out, when 
Kearny, after a six hours' march, succeeded by the gi'eatest exertions in passing 
Casey's troops and pushing to the front through the deep mud. " He at once 
gallantly attacked," said General McClellan, " and thereby prevented the loss of 
another battery, and drove the enemy back at every point, enabling General 
Hooker to extricate himself from his position, and withdraw his wearied troops." 
In the battle of Fair Oaks and the famous seven days' fight his gallantry was uni- 
versally admired, and soon afterward he was commissioned a Major-General, 
dating from July fourth. His troops were the first to join General Pope after 
McClellan was withdrawn from the Peninsula, leaving Yorktown on the twenty- 
first of August, 1862, and uniting with the army of Virginia at Warrenton Junc- 
tion on the twenty-third. Three days afterward the confederate General Jackson 
made his celebrated attack upon Pope's rear at Catlett's Station, compelling the 
Federal commander to abandon the line of the Eappahannock and fall back to 



PHILIP KEARXT. 247 

Manassas Junction. McDowell at the same time was ordered to Gainesville to 
intercept any reenforcements coming to Jackson by way of Thoroughfare Gap, 
while Kearny and Eeno followed some miles in his rear in order to support him. 
This movement had the desired effect. Longstreet, who was on his way to join 
Jackson, was compelled to retire west of the Bull Eun Mountains, and Pope 
pushed on toward Centreville with Kearny, Eeno, and Hooker. McDowell joined 
them here with his main force, and at dawn on the twenty -ninth the battle of 
Centreville was begun. Kearny fought with the gi-eatest desperation throughout 
that day, and again on the thirtieth, when the corps to which he was attached 
held the right of the Federal line. Toward nightfall Franklin and Sumner arrived 
upon the field, but the battle was not renewed, and on the first of September the 
army fell back to Fairfax Court-House. 

On the evening of that day the enemy directed an attack upon the right of 
our line, near Germantown, where most of the sujDply-trains were stationed, their 
evident intention being to get around in Pope's rear and cut his communications 
with "Washington. Eeno's division was ordered to attack their advancing col- 
umns, and Kearny's, though it had been fighting all day, to advance and support 
Eeno. Thus began what is known as the battle of Chantilly. The firing soon 
became heavy, and General Birney sent word to Kearny that Eeno's troops had 
given way upon his left, leaving a gap which the rebels were hastening- to occupj^ 
Telling his orderly and aids to keep back, Keamy rode forward alone, to examine 
the position himself He never came back. His men, supposing him a prisoner, 
engaged the enemy, repulsed them, and covered our retreat until three o'clock 
the next morning, when the train having been withdrawn, they retired in order. 
A few hours afterward the General's body, shot through by a musket-ball from 
the hip to the breast, was sent within the Federal lines under a flag of truce. 

The energy and dashing spirit of Keamy, his frequent exposure of his person, 
and almost proverbial bi'avery, gave him a reputation as a " fighting general " 
which lowered somewhat unduly his popular standing as a scientific soldier. He 
was not only a man of dash, but a skilful tactician and an able strategist. He 
was a strict disciplinarian, but the idol of his men, and the apparent recklessness 
with which he rushed into every danger was the means which he deliberately 
chose to inspirit them. " I am daily and hourly exposed," he wrote, the day be- 
fore his death ; " I do not so expose myself from a spuit of rash folly, but because 
my men need the example." 



BEI^JAMII^ F. BTJTLEE. 

LITERATUEE and Art are the cliildren of Peace. Diplomacy, strategy, 
and valor, flourish only in the shadow of turbulent events. It is only 
amid the angry clashing of antagonistic interests, that such men as the subject 
of this sketch develop and achieve distinction. 

Benjamin F. Butler was born in Deerfield, New Hampshire, on the 5th 
of November, 1818. His father, John Butler, who served in some capacity in 
the War of 1812, was of Irish descent. Young Butler's boyhood was passed at 
Lowell, Massachusetts, where he attended the High School, preparatory to be- 
coming a student at the Exeter Academy. He graduated with honors at "Water- 
ville College, studied law in the office of William Smith, Esq., and was admitted 
to the bar in 1846. 

Butler at once plunged into law and politics, pursuing both with equal 
ardor, and displaying the adroitness and energy which have always characterized 
him. He sf)eedily made his mark in Middlesex as one of the prominent men of 
the county. He espoused the most desperate causes, and became, in court, the 
leader of forlorn-hopes. His singular fertility in expedients, and success in de- 
fending rather awkward suits, brought him, in time, a more respectable clientele, 
and he soon won the reputation of being the ablest criminal lawyer in the state. 

In 1853, Butler was nominated for the legislature, and elected ; in 1858, he 
was elected to the senate ; in 1860, we find him playing a prominent rule as dele- 
gate to the Charleston and Baltimore conventions, fulfilling the mission with his 
usual tact and skill. 

During all these years, the combative lawyer and politician had been taking 
lessons in "the school of the soldier." Butler had always possessed and evinced 
a taste for military life. In 1840, he was a private in the Lowell City Guards, 
now immortalized by their share in the memorable conflict at Baltimore, on the 
19th of April, 1861. In 1857, he was appointed brigadier-general in the state 
militia. Destiny was preparing him for his subsequent career. The hour was 
approaching when hi% alert brain and strong hand were to be worth untold gold. 

In the month of April, 1861, General Butler was one of the earliest to re- 
spond to the call of President Lincoln for volunteers, keenly appreciating the 
important aspect of affairs, and not unmindful, possibly, of the opportunity 




~^S^§a 



i^a^fhy AKVj.Ic'sa' 



i\AA (;en benj f. butlf'.h 



BENJAMIN F. BUTLER. 249 

afforded for military distinction. He eagerly availed himself of it. With a 
single regiment, the Massachusetts eighth, he marched into Maryland, embarked 
on board a steamer, made a descent upon Annapolis, then the enemy's country, 
and held it. The 'war department immediately created the department of An- 
napolis, extending to within seven miles of Washington, and including Baltimore. 
General Butler was installed commander, with the rank of major-general. 

He was equal to the emergency. He strengthened his exposed position in 
all possible ways, setting his soldiers — the ci-devant blacksmiths and jacks-of-all- 
trades — to construct locomotives, build bridges, and make railroads. He took 
possession of the Relay House, fortifying himself there with the Massachusetts 
sixth, the New York eighth, and Cook's Boston battery, controlling the great 
channel of communication between the insui-gents in Baltimore and the rebels at 
Harper's Ferry. He seized the famous steam-gun, and turned it on the enemy. 
General Butler then marched into Baltimore, accompanied by the two regiments 
and the battery mentioned; intrenched himself on the highest point of land, 
overlooking the whole city ; issued his proclamation of protection to all loyal- 
ists ; arrested traitors ; seized arms and munitions of war ; and rode through the 
perilous streets at the head of a single company of the gallant Massachusetts 
sixth, which the mob had so grievously assaulted only three weeks before. His 
campaign here was a brilliant one in every respect. 

In pursuance of Special Order No. 9, dated at Fortress Monroe, the head- 
quarters of the department of Virginia, August 20th, 1861, General Butler as- 
sumed command of the volunteer forces in that Aacinity. While occupying this 
post, the lamentable affair at Little Bethel, and the more disastrous rejjulse at 
Big Bethel, occurred, and General Butler was superseded by General Wool. 

On the 1st day of the following September, the war department " authorized 
Major-General B. F. Butler to raise, organize, arm, uniform, and equip a volun- 
teer force for the war, in the New England states, not exceeding sis regiments." 
Two days later, the war department authorized him " to fit out and prepare such 
troops in New England as he may judge fit for the purpose, to make an expedi- 
tion along the eastern shore of Virginia," etc., etc. In carrying out these plans, 
a series of embarrassing conflicts arose between General Butler and Governor 
Andrew. Much bitter feeling was generated. Recruiting was retarded in con- 
sequence, and delay followed delay. This is neither the tme nor the place to 
more than allude to the unfortunate controversy. 

At length, on the 20th of February, 1862, General Butler left Boston for 
Ship Island, in Mississippi Sound, at which destination he arrived on the 23d 
of March, with a force of fifteen thousand men, to attack New Orleans. Leaving 
Ship Island on the 17th of April, with a portion of his command, he went up the 
Mississippi, and, after the surrender of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, proceeded 



250 BEN JAM IX F. BUTLER. 

to New Orleans, wliich city Le entered witli twenty-five hundred men on the 
evening of the 1st of May. 

Here General Butler again loomed up as the man for the hour. His execu- 
tive ability, his ready wit, decision, unflinching justice, and, in short, all the 
peculiar powers of his mind, came into play. That he should have made some 
false steps, where so many perplexing claims came in contact, does not admit of 
surprise. No man could have done better, few so well. General Butler's course 
in New Orleans was, from the first, necessarily a stringent one. He suppressed 
Tlie Delta and The Bee, for advocating destruction of produce ; arrested several 
British subjects, for affording aid to the rebels; seized a large amount of sjDccie 
belonging to the enemy, in the office of the consul for the Netherlands ; stopped 
the circulation of confederate paper-money ; distributed among the suffering poor 
the provisions intended for the support of the Southern army ; levied a tax on 
rebel sympathizers ; gave care and protection to Mrs. Beauregard, whom he found 
in the house of Mr. Slidell ; and issued that celebrated and characteristic procla- 
mation respecting active female traitors, which at once extirpated a most annoy- 
ing nuisance.* He found the city demoralized. He shaped order out of chaos. 

* Sympathizers with the South claimed to be greatly outraged by tliis order. The EngUsh press 
became eloquently vituperative on the subject; and General Butler was induced to explain, in a private 
letter, the motives which constrained him to issue the proclamation. The following is the general's 
characteristic epistle : 

" HeAD-QUAETEKS, DEPARTirENT OF THE GULF, NBW ORLEANS, July 2d, 1S62. 

" Mt Dear Sir: I am as jealous of the good opinion of my friends as I am careless of the slanders 
of my enemies, and your kind expressions in regard to Order No. 28 lead me to say a word to you on 
the subject. 

" That it ever could have been so misconceived as it has been by some portions of the Northern 
press is wonderful, and would lead one to exclaim with the Jew, ' Father Abraham, what these Chris- 
tians are, whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect the thoughts of others I' 

"What was the state of things to which the woman order applied? 

" "We were two thousand five hundred men in a city seven miles long by two to four wide, of a 
hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants — all hostile, bitter, defiant, explosive — standing literally on a 
magazine ; a spark only needed for destruction. The devil had entered the hearts of the women of this 
town (you know seven of them chose Mary Magdalen for a residence), to stir up strife in every way 
possible. Every opprobrious epithet, every insulting gesture was made by these bejewelled, becrinolined, 
and laced creatures, calling themselves ladies, toward my soldiers and officers, from the windows of 
houses and in the streets. How long do you suppose our flesh and blood could have stood this without 
retort ? That would lead to disturbances and riot, from which wo must clear the streets with artillery ; 
and then a howl that we murdered these fine women 1 I had arrested the men who hurrahed for Beau- 
regard. Could I arrest the women? No. What was to be done? No order could be made save one 
that would execute itself. -With anxious, careful thought I hit upon this: 'Women who insult my 
soldiers are to be regarded and treated as common women plying their vocation.' 

"Pray, how do you treat a common woman plying her vocation in the streets? You pass lier by 
unheeded. She cannot insult you I As a gentleman, you can and wiU take no notice of her. If she 

32 



BENJAMIN r. BUTLER. 251 

He has beeu the ixovernment's faithful servant, and his services will link his 
name for ever with that of the Crescent City. It was a fortunate day for New- 
Orleans when "Picayune Butler came to town." The people who hate him can 
hardly help admiring him ! 

General Butler saved the city, not only from its own suicidal madness, but 
from the dread visitation of that malignant fever which has periodically changed 
the crowded metropolis into one vast charnel-house. That the yellow-fever would 
lay the invading Yankees at the mercy of their enemies, was the prayer and ex- 
pectation of every noble son and daughter of the South. One " eminent divine" 
in the conquered city was heard to remark, that strong as was his belief in special 
providential dispensations, that faith would receive a severe, perhaps a fatal shock, 
if the sickness did not become epidemic in New-Orleans, the approaching sum- 
mer. Fortunately, Providence and the Major-General commanding warded off 
that calamity. Sanitary science had long interested General Butler. His inves- 
tigations led him to adopt the theory that the yellow-fever is indigenous in no 
region where there is frost every winter. There is frost every winter throughout 
the United States. He therefore argued that the yellow-fever is brought from 
tropical ports. He at once established such rigorous quarantine laws as again 
brought him in conflict with the testy representatives of "neutral" powers. The 
fever raged at Nassau, Havana, and other neighboring ports ; but New-Orleans 
escaped untouched. 

While General Butler was deeply engaged in elaborating plans for the farther 
benefit of the people of Louisiana, he was abruptly superseded by General Banks. 

speaks, her words are not opprobrious. It is only when she becomes a continuous and positive nuisance 
that you call a watchman and give her in charge to him. 

" But some of the Northern editors seem to think that whenever one meets such a wcmaan, one must 
stop her, talk with her, insult her, or hold dalliance with her ; and so from their own conduct they con- 
strued my order. 

"The editor of the Boston Courier may so deal with common women, and out of the abundance of 
the heart his mouth may speak ; but so do not I. 

" Why, these she-adders of New Orleans themselves were at once shamed into propriety of conduct 
by the order; and, from that day, no woman has either insulted or annoyed any live soldier or officer, and 
of a certainty no soldier has insulted any woman. 

"When I passed through Baltimore, on the 23d of February last, members of my staff were insulted 
by the gestures of the ladies (?) there. Not so in New Orleans. 

" One of the worst possible of all these women showed disrespect to the remains of gallant young 
De Kay; and you will see her punishment — a copy of the order of which I enclose — is at once a vindica- 
tion and a construction of my order. 

" I can only say that I would issue it again under hke circumstances. Again thanking you for your 

kind interest, I am truly your friend, 

" Benjamin F. Butleb, Major- General commanding." 



252 BENJAMIN F BUTLER. 

Considering the success and importance of liis labors, the follo-vvng order relieving 
hiin of his command, reads rather coldly : 

War Department, Adjutant-General's Office, ) 
Washington, NoYember 9, 1862. ) 

GENERAL ORDER No. 184. 
By du'ection of the President of the United States, Major-General Banks is 
assigned to the command of the Department of the Gulf, including the State of 
Texas. By order of the Secretary of War, 

E. D. Thomas, Assistant Adjt. -General. 
H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief 

The precise reason of General Butler's recall has not, up to the present moment, 
been made known to him. 

On his return home, every city he passed through gave him such honorable 
welcome as is given only to heroes. For a time he reposed in the shade of his 
laurels. 

General Butler was not, however, destined to remain long inactive. He 
superseded General Foster at Fortress Monroe, to participate in the present gi-eat 
campaign against Eichraond under General Grant. Which statement brings our 
brief summary of General Butler's services down to July, 1864. 

As a man, General Butler is of a warm, impulsive temperment, generous, 
combative, and brusque. As a politician, he is earnest and formidable. As an 
advocate, he has never ranked with the leaders of the Massachusetts bar, though 
his success as a criminal lawyer is, perhaps, without parallel As an orator, he 
is fluent and effective, but seldom eloquent. He is apt at reading character, and 
sometimes applies his knowledge with consummate shrewdness. As a soldier, 
he has evinced many very high qualities : he has undertaken and performed 
various onerous duties with such ecldl, that none but his most ungenerous politi- 
cal adversaries can withhold their commendation. 




--''graved iyiLHi 






LOYELL HAEEISON EOUSSEAU. 

LOVELL HARRISOK EOUSSEAU was bom in Lincoln County, Ken- 
tuclcy, in 1820. He is descended from a Hiiguenot family, who emigrated 
from France to America after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and settled in 
Virginia, where his ancestors for many generations resided. By the mother's side 
he is connected with the Gaineses and the Pendletons of that State. His father 
was a first cousin of President Hai'rison. 

His parents were too poor to give him a good education, and indeed he 
never went to school after he was ten years old. When he was thirteen his father 
died, leaving a large family of young children unprovided for. Lovell, being the 
eldest son then at home, obtained work on a macadamized road from Lexington 
to Lancaster. His education had not been entirely neglected. With the help of 
his mother and sisters he had continued his studies after leaving school, and even 
begun the study of French ; and now he used to write out his French verbs at 
night, and when he went to his work in the morning, spread the paper out before 
him, with a stone upon it to prevent it from blowing away, and learned the conju- 
gations while he beat rock. 

In 1840, he removed to the neighborhood of Louisville, and began to study 
law. He had no help or direction from any one, and never was asked a question 
or had a conversation on the subject of his studies until he offered himself to be 
examined for a license. For about six months he ajDplied himself closely to his 
books, reading law foiirteen hours and history two hours every day. This in- 
tense application brought on a sevei'e sickness, and after several months' confine- 
ment he arose from his bed with only five dollars and a half in the world, and no 
prospect of having more until he could earn it at the bar. He resolved to go to 
Indiana, thinking he could combine study with practice much sooner there than 
in Kentucky. He did not know a man in the State ; but having made up his 
mind to settle at Bloomfield, he started afoot, with all his worldly goods tied up 
in his cloak and swung over his shoulder. Arrived at his place of destination, he 
went to the principal hotel, frankly told the landlord that he had no money, but 
would have plenty some day, and asked if he would trust him. The worthy host 
consented, and treated his guest so generously then and on many subsequent 
occasions as to win his lasting gratitude. 



254 LOVELL HARRISON ROUSSEAU. 

After a little more study, young Rousseau ajiplied to Judge McDonald for a 
license. At tlie end of a long examination, tlie Judge said : " Sir, you are not a 
lawyer, but you will make one ; I •vrill give you a license, thougli you do not 
deserve it." The Judge was not deceived. Mr. Rousseau did make a lawyer, 
and took a very fair position at the bar from the start. In 1844 and 1845 he 
was a member of the Indiana Legislature, in which he exerted great influence. 
Raising a company of volunteers for the Mexican war in 1846, he was commis- 
sioned Captain in the Second Indiana volunteers — the same regiment which suf- 
fered so severely at Buena Vista. Captain Rousseau lost more than a quarter of 
his men, but brought his company in good order oft' the field, and was highly 
complimented in the official report of his commanding ofiicer. Colonel Humphrey 
Marshall. Immediately after his return home, he was elected to the Indiana 
Senate by an immense majority in a Democratic district, although he had always 
been a Whig. Before his term of office expired, he removed to Louisville in 
1849, but his Indiana constituents would not allow him to resign. 

A Kentucky lawyer in those days had need of many qualifications besides 
a knowledge of the law. If he would defend an unpopular cause, he must be 
able to stand fire ; for while his professional opponents confronted him in court 
with Kent and Blackstone, the mob was very apt to assail him outside with bul- 
lets and gunpowder. Mr. Rousseau had all the requirements for such a career, 
and he still carries in his body a leaden memento of his experience at the Louis- 
ville bar. His defence of the Joyce negroes, indicted for murder, was a striking 
instance of his readiness to face popular odium and grave bodily danger in the 
discharge of his professional duty. The intrepid and chivalric spirit which always 
prompted him to espouse the cause of the weak and friendless, and which, in his 
subsequent military career, has won for him the sobriquet of "the Bayard of the 
West," we may be sure was not without _its influence over Kentucky juries. It 
was in jury trials especially and in the management in court of difficult cases that 
he made his rejjutation. 

In 1860, he was elected a member of the Kentucky Senate, receiving the 
nomination of both parties. When the doctrine of neutrality was broached in the 
Legislature, he strenuously opposed it, holding that Kentucky was in duty bound, 
as a member of the Union, to put forth all her energies in support of the Govern- 
ment Being overi-uled in this, he went to Washington and obtained authority 
to raise troops in Kentucky. But even the Union men of his State opposed him. 
" Old friends,", said he, " whom I had known well for many years, passed me in 
the public streets of my own city without recognition, because they had turned 
traitors and I had remained loyal to the Government of our fathers. This state 
of things gi-owing worse daily, I finally resolved to speak to no one who did not 
first speak to me. I walked the streets of my own city as if in a strange town, 



LOVELL HARRISON ROUSSEAU. 255 

and little as I love battles and danger, I would prefer fighting a battle once a 
montli to going tbrough what I did in raising my brigade. 

" The leading men of the State who were for the Government met at Louis- 
ville, and, after mature deliberation, resolved that it was impolitic to enlist sol- 
diers here at that time. I was instructed from Washington to act in harmony 
with the Union men of the State. With much reluctance I abandoned the pro- 
ject of enlisting my soldiers on Kentucky soil, and went to camp 'Jo Holt,' in 
Indiana. 

Eousseau's two regiments, known as the Louisvdle Legion, were ordered to 
Missouri. " And then," said he, " my friends who had rather stood aloof awoke 
and came forward, and wisely, as events showed, and got the President to coun- 
termand the order. Soon after, Buckner came into the State with his army of 
double traitors — traitors to their State and to the nation — and on the memorable 
night of the seventeenth of September we crossed the Ohio River and marched out 
under General Sherman to meet them. By some means that ardent desire of our 
hearts was never fulfilled, but Buckner never came to Louisville.^' 

For this service he was commissioned Brigadier-General of volunteers, Octo- 
ber first, 1861. Attached to the army of the Ohio, under General Buell, he shared 
in the battle of Shiloh, where the official reports of Buell, Sherman, and McOook 
paint his conduct in the most glowing colors, and speak of him as having "won 
the admiration of the whole army." He took a conspicuous part in the operations 
which led to the evacuation of Corinth, and in the last skirmish which took place 
there was hotly engaged within six hundred yards of the enemy's works. Being 
afterward assigned the command of a division in McCook's corps, he earned pro- 
motion to the rank of Major-General by his gallantry at the battle of Perry ville, 
October eighth, 1862 ; his commission, which was not made out, however, until the 
following March, dating from the day of the battle. He commanded a division 
under General Thomas at the battle of Stone River, December thirty-first to Janu- 
ary second, 1862-3, in his report of which General Rosecrans complimented him 
as "the ever-ready Rousseau." 

A great part of the interval between this and the following campaign General 
Rousseau spent in raising a force of mounted infantry, which, as it was supposed, 
would prove of great service in suppressing guenilla warfare. He is now in com- 
mand of the Military District of Tennessee. 

In person, General Rousseau is tall, well-j^roportioned, and athletic. When 
a youth, his achievements as a wrestler and foot-racer were a theme of admiration 
for the Kentucky woodsmen among whom he lived, and he still retains his activi- 
ty and power of endurance unimpaired. 



JAMES E. B. STUART. 



THE subject of this memoir was boru in Pati'ick County, Virginia, about the 
year 1829. In his youth he gave evidence of many qualities that fitted him 
for the position he afterward occupied. His father was Archibald Stuart, Mem- 
ber of Congress for a Virginia district, but who died in the year 1854. 

Young Stuart received a good education,. and entered the West-Point Acade- 
my in 1850. In 1854, he received a commission as Second Lieutenant in a 
mounted rifle corps of the United States army. One year afterward he was trans- 
ferred to the First regular cavalry, with General J. E. Johnston as his Lieutenant- 
Colonel, and the gallant Union General Sumner as his Colonel. Lender them 
Stuart fought in the wilds of New-Mexico, now engaging with tribes of hostile 
Indians, now hunting up hordes of lawless banditti, and ever performing some 
dashing and fearless exploit. Soon he became noted amongst his compeers for 
these bold and skilful charges upon a wily and dangerous foe. On the twenty- 
ninth July, 1857, he was wounded in a severe fight with three hundred braves of 
the Cheyenne tribe, who were, however, defeated. 

In May, 1861, President Lincoln appointed Lieutenant Stuart to a captaincy 
in the cavtilry of the United States ; but, in common with many other South- 
ern ofiicers, he declined the appointment and went over to the rebel army, where 
he was made Colonel of a Virginia cavalry regiment. 

In July, 1861, at the first battle of Bull Run, he commanded all the cavalry 
attached to Beauregard's and Johnston's armies, and did good sei'vice to the con- 
federate cause. 

On September eleventh, 1861, Stuart, in command of infantry, artillery, and 
cavalry, succeeded in routing a Union force at Lewinsville, Va. For this he was 
highly complimented in a general order by Longstreet and Johnston, and was ap- 
pointed a Brigadier-General. 

In December, 1861, he was' at the attack upon the Union forces at Drains- 
ville, and after this appears to have gone South in winter quarters toward Eich- 
mond. 

In the beginning of the Peninsula war of 1862, Stuart made several cavalry 
expeditions, culminating in that most famous raid, during June, through and 
around General McClellan's army. He started fi-om the Richmond lines with a 




(v^ 



^•"^ ■' W A 3 Ratbic 



Gen. J. E. B. STUART 



JAMES E. B. STUART. 257 

force of six huncTrecl sabres and two pieces of artillery, made his way througli the 
Federal outj^osts, and reached the Pamunkey Eiver beyond. There he destroyed 
a great quantity of Government supplies, made several captures, and created no 
small amount of alarm. He then turned round toward the Chickahominy, fully 
encompassing the Union army, and, after some dif&culty as regards crossing the 
river, finally succeeded in reaching the confederate lines again in safety, with no 
material loss to his men. Tliereupon, he was promoted to the rank of Major-Gen- 
eral in the rebel army, and placed in command of a division of cavalry. 

Barely two months later he was again at work with one of his remarkble ex- 
ploits. On the twenty-second of August,. General Pope was at Catlett's Station, 
Va., with the Union forcfes, when in the midst of a heavy storm, Stuart dashed in 
upon his right flank, penetrated to headquarters, and succeeded in capturing im- 
portant papers, besides taking the private effects and dress-uniform of Pope and 
several of his officers. la the beginning of the following October, only seven 
weeks after this exploit, Stuart made a bold dash into Pennsylvania. 

General Lee, commanding the rebel army, then in camp near Winchester, 
Va., gave Stuart orders to attempt a cavalry expedition into Maryland. On the 
ninth of October, Stuart issued an address to his command, enjoining " implicit 
obedience to orders, without question or cavil, and the strictest order and sobrie- 
ty on the march and in bivouac." He also told his men that the destination and 
extent of the expedition would be better kept to himself He then gave an 
order directing brigade commanders to make arrangements for seizing horses, etc., 
the property of persons under the United States flag, but that, in every case, a re- 
ceipt was to be given showing such seizure to be for the confederate service. All 
individual plunder for private use was forbidden. Public functionaries were to 
be made prisoners, but to be kindly treated ; and all persons in transit to be de- 
tained until his command had passed in safety. 

He started with a cavalry force of one thousand eight hundred men, and four 
pieces of horse artillery. The expedition rendezvoused at Darksville and marched 
to Hedgesville, where they camped for the night. At daylight of the tenth Octo- 
ber, Stuart crossed the Potomac at McCoy's, (between Williamsport and Hancock,) 
meeting with some little opposition fi-om a small detachment of the Federals 
stationed there. Thence he struck northward till reaching the road to Hagers- 
town, which he crossed and went on to Mercersburgh, arriving there at noon. 
Then, after a short rest, he proceeded toward Chambersburgh. What followed 
there may be best related from an account given by Colonel A. K. McClure, of 
that city. 

He says that, after ascertaining the rebel cavalry had really crossed the Poto- 
mac, astonishing every one by such audacity, impi-ovised pickets were placed on 
the several roads by which, as it was supposed, they might enter. Night came 



258 JAMES E. B. STUART. 

on ; the ram was pouring clown in ton-ents ; and citizens with muskets were run- 
ning to and fro, without any oi-gauization. Presently the clattering of hoofs was 
heard on the western pike, and in a few moments the rebel advance was in the 
centre of the town. They bore a flag of truce, and required that Chambersburgh 
should be surrendered to the confederate forces. 

As there was no Union gan-ison or soldiers there. Colonel McClure and three 
other citizens responded, after consultation with their fellow-townsmen. They 
accompanied the rebel escort back on the road for a mile to where General Hamp- 
ton was found, in command of Stuart's advance. There every respect and cour- 
tesy were shown to McClure and his companions, who, as a deputation from Cham- 
bersburgh, formally surrendered the town. Stuart and his force soon afterward 
entered and took possession, but though some eight hundred horses were seized, 
and public property destroyed to about the value of three huudi-ed thousand dol- 
lars, nothing, of a different kind, belonging to private persons was touched. 

About seven a.m. next day the rebel advance moved on toward Gettysburgh. 
But, until the whole of his force left. General Stuart remained on horseback in 
the centre of the town, surrounded by his staff, seeing his orders executed. In 
one or two instances his men commenced taking private property from stores, but 
they were immediately arrested by Stuart's provost-guard, and, according to Colo- 
nel McClure, the rebel General left behind him a reputation for being a kind and 
humane soldier. 

From Chambersburgh Stuart marched toward Gettysburgh, but, on passing 
the Blue Ridge, he turned back toward Hagerstown for six or eight miles, then 
crossed into Maryland by Emmittsburgh. Thence they proceeded by Frederick, 
and, crossing the Monocacy, continued the march all night via Liberty, New-Mar- 
ket, Monrovia, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, cutting wires and tearing up 
the track. At daylight they reached Hyattstown, and proceeded thence toward 
Poolesville, but, at two or three miles off, turned into the woods, and finally suc- 
ceeded in recrossing the Potomac at White's Ford, whence they soon afterward 
got back to Lee. 

This successful raid of Stuart's naturally gave him a high reputation in the 
rebel army, and we find him again actively engaged almost directly after his re- 
turn. On the fifth of November he encountered Pleasanton at the Barbee's Cross- 
Roads, and had a fight with that bold cavalry officer. In December, at the battle 
of Fredericksburgh, Stuart, with two brigades of cavalry and artillery, covered the 
flank of the confederate line on the right, and opened a most destructive fire 
on the advancing Federals. Shortly afterward he crossed the Rappahannock, 
above Burnside's army, and attacked Dumfries, Va. He then advanced toward 
Alexandria, burned Accotink Bridge, then passed north of Fairfax Court-House, 



JAMES E. B. STUART. 259 

and finally returned to Culpeioer, with two hundred prisoners and twenty-five 
wagons. 

In March, 1863, Stuart was at the rebel headquarters, in command of all the 
cavalry, when Mosby made a dashing raid, and succeeded in capturing Brigadier- 
General Stoughton, of the Union army. He then issued a congratulatoiy order 
on the result, in which he speaks of Mosby in tenns of high commendation. 

After this, in May, we find that Stuart was sent for to take control of Stone- 
wall Jackson's corps, when he and his immediate successor, General A. P. Hill, 
were wounded in the battle of Chancellorsville. 

On June ninth he had another encounter with Pleasanton at Beverly Ford ; 
and on the twenty-eighth, accompanied Lee toward Maryland, but was left to 
guard the passes of the mountains and harass Hooker's army. This he did with 
his usual daring and skill, marching in various directions and doing considerable 
damage. Finally he reached Carlisle, and shared in the battle of Gettysburgh, 
ultimately retreating by the way of "Williamsport to the South. 

In October, Stuart again moved forward. He advanced to Madison Court- 
House, and on the eleventh had an engagement with the Federal cavalry under 
Buford. Seven days afterward he had a fight with Meade's cavalry, and after this 
fell back into winter quarters with the rebel army. 

"We now come to a period when the daring exploits of Stuart were to have 
an end. It is well known that at the outset of our present war the advantage of 
cavalry was not seen as it is now. But Stoneman, Grierson, Kilpatrick, Custer, 
Gregg, Torbert, and Sheridan have nobly demonstrated its immense benefit to our 
armies. The latter General, dui-ing the late battles in the Wilderness, (1864,) was 
detached with his fine body of cavalry to hunt after Stuart's division, who, on the 
sixth of May, had made a demonstration against our forces. Stuart was encoun- 
tered and driven back. He then hastily made for Ashland Station, on the Frede- 
ricksburgh Eailroad, and across the South Anna Eiver, hotly followed by Sheri- 
dan, whose cavalry succeeded in arriving there first and doing considerable damage. 
Stuart, finding the Union force under Sheridan had passed on toward Eichmond, 
promptly pursued, and, on the morning of May twelfth, at a place called the Yel- 
low Tavern, met a portion of the Federalists under General Wilson and Colonel 
Gregg. Stuart immediately put out a line of skirmishers ; but, on seeing Gregg 
with his brigade preparing to charge on his left, he and his staff dashed down the 
line to form his men. At this moment, Gregg and his gallant fellows came thun- 
dering on toward Stuart, whose well-known person was immediately recognized. 
Twelve sliots, at short-range, were quickly fired at him, while his men were being 
routed in a short space of time. Stuart, with the bravery that undoubtedly char- 
acterized him, promptly wheeled round upon his assailants and fired six shots in 
succession. But the last of the shots sent at him struck the left side of his 



260 JAMES E. B. STUART. 

stomach. Nerving liimself, however, he still retained his seat in the saddle, and 
turned round to seek the protection of his own lines. But, before he reached 
them, his wound overcame him, and he was helped from his horse by one of his 
troopers, and thence earned to a place of security. Subsequently he was taken 
to Richmond in an ambulance, and conveyed to the residence of Dr. Brewer, a 
relative of his, where at twenty-two minutes to eight o'clock that evening 
he died. 



— ^55^t^^^§4<%VS=V— 




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Eilg?VA.H.Bitd»«- 



.\DMIRA1. T). a. FARRAGUT. 



DATID GLASGOW FAEEAGUT. 

AMONG those wlio have distinguished themselves in the defence of their 
country against her rebellious enemies, in none has patriotism burned with 
a purer light or a warmer glow thi!n in Commodore Farragut. Born in the 
South, connected by marriage with one of the oldest and most influential' families 
of Virginia, surrounded by Southern associations and Southern ties, both of family 
and property — he yet proved faithful and true in the hour of his country's trial, 
and rising above local influence and passions, and resisting all the temptations of 
unprincipled ambition, devoted himself with single-hearted zeal to the cause of 
national integrity and honor. 

David Glascow Farragut was born about the j'car 1801, in a town situated 
twelve miles from Knoxville, in East-Tennessee. His father was a Major in a 
United States cavalry regiment, and was an intimate fi-iend of General Andrew 
Jackson. The early years of the future Rear-Admu-al were passed amid the dan- 
gers and vicissitudes of border-life, where scenes of a thrilling character were not 
unfrequently enacted, so that while yet a boy he became inured to peril and 
strife. On one occasion he was rescued from the cruel mercies of an Indian toma- 
hawk only by the heroic bearing of his devoted mother, who kept the red-faced 
enemies at bay till her husband, with a squadron of horse, caused them to take to 
their heels. 

A short time previous to the breaking out of the war of 1812, Major Fan-a- 
gut was called to the command of a gunboat at New-Orleans, and thither he re- 
moved with his family. Here was first formed young David's taste for the navy ; 
his only brother having received an appointment as midshipman, his emulation 
to occupy a similar position was instantly roused. His youthful ambition was 
soon gratified by Commodore David D. Porter, Avho, jjleased with the boy's ap- 
pearance, took him on board his own ship, the far-famed Essex. In a bloody 
engagement off Valparaiso, between the Essex and the two British sloops, Phcebe 
and Cherub, the young midshipman distinguished himself by his his gallant be- 
havior, and naiTowly escaped with his life, having fallen down a hatchway while 
executing one of the Commodore's orders. When it was decided to surrender 
the brave little brig, David was sent to throw overboard 'the signal-book, lest it 
should fall into the enemy's hands, the signal-master being missing. Young Far- 
ragut behaved throughout the action with a manly spirit, but when he saw the 



262 DAVID GLASGOW FARRAGUT. 

American colors haiiled down in token of defeat he burst into tears, nor did he 
willingly surrender himself prisoner till, after a pugilistic encounter with a young 
English " middy," he had secured the possession of a favorite pig, the pet of him- 
self and his fellow-sailors. 

When but thirteen years of age, our hero was appointed master of the Bar- 
clay, one of the British vessels which had fallen as prizes to the Essex. He was 
ordered to navigate her from Guayaquil Bay to Valparaiso, convoyed by the 
Essex, Jr., another prize. This arrangement met with opposition fi-om Captain 
Eandall, the former commander of the Barclay, who was mortified at being under 
the control of a mere boy, and swore he would not follow the Essex, Jr., into 
port, and would " shoot the first man who touched a brace." Nothing daunted, 
the young master issued his orders regardless of threats, and on overtaking the 
Essex, Jr., reported Eandall's conduct, and offered, after an investigation, to show 
his independence by returning to Valparaiso as prize-master, taking Captain Ean- 
dall as an adviser in navigation, should the Barclay be separated from the other 
vessels. This he was permitted to do, and accomplished his object without fur- 
ther difficulty. 

On his return to the United States, he was placed by Commodore Porter at 
Chester, Pennsylvania, under the tuition of one of Bonaparte's Swiss Guards, who 
gave instruction in military tactics and athletic sports, in addition to the ordinary 
branches. While at this school the national capital was attacked by the British, 
and David's old companions, the crew of the Essex, passed through Chester on 
their way to its defence. Farragut begged hard for Commodore Porter's pel-mis- 
sion to join them, but the request was denied on the score that he was too young 
for land fighting. 

After a few years of adventurous life, the young sailor was jDlaced as mid- 
shipman on board the Franklin, a seventy-four gun line-of- battle ship, in 1820. 
He remained on this vessel till January of the following year, when we find him 
recorded as being off duty in the city of New-York. Being now twenty-one years 
of age, he passed his examination in the " Empire City," and was recommended 
for promotion. His position in the navy remained, however, tinchanged till 1825. 
During the foiir intervening years, having been ordered on the West-India station, 
he made an interesting cruise after pirates in the Caribbean Sea, and on his return 
was finally commissioned as Lieutenant on the thirteenth of January, 1825. For 
some months succeeding his promotion he remained acting in his new capacity on 
the India station till transferred to the Brandywine, a forty-four gun frigate, upon 
which vessel he reported on the first of January, 1826. During the latter part 
of this year he was Ordered to the receiving-ship at Norfolk, Virginia, where he 
remained till late in 1828. He was then ordered to the sloop Vandalia, an eigh- 
teen-gun vessel-of-war, which joined the American squadron on the coast of 



DAVID GLASGOW FARRAGUT. 263 

Brazil. He remained on this station about two years, when he returned to Nor- 
f()lk and continued to hold his former position on the receiving-ship during the 
residue of 1830, throughout 1831 and 1832, and some portion of 1833. He was 
next ordered to the sloop-of-war Natchez, then stationed on the coast of Brazil, 
in the capacity of executive officer. On his return to the United States, about 
the end of 1834, he obtained leave of absence for the enjoyment of an interval of 
rest. He was not again engaged in active public duty till the j-ear 1838, when he 
was ordered on the West-India station for the second time. He did not remain 
there long, however, for we find him awaiting orders in the commencement of 
1840, and recorded in ordinary at Norfolk on the first of January, 1841. Dui-ing 
this year, on the eighth of September, he was commissioned a Commander in the 
navy and ordered to the sloop-of-war Decatur, a sixteen-gun vessel. In her, Com- 
mander Farragut sailed on his third voyage to Brazil, joining the squadron sta- 
tioned there. He remained at this post about twelve months, when he was again 
allowed absence on leave. During 1843 and 1844 he was out of active service 
awaiting orders, till finally stationed again at the navy-yard at Norfolk, where he 
remained till 1847. During this year he was ordered to the command of the 
sloop-of-war Saratoga, carrying twenty guns, then stationed on the home squad- 
ron. On his return he took up his old position at the Norfolk Navy-Yard, where 
he held command second to Commodore Sloat. He remained here till 1851, when 
he was appointed Assistant Inspector of Ordnance, being second in command 
under Commodore Skinner. In 1854 a new field of service was opened by the 
establishment of a navy-yard at Mare Island, near San Francisco, California. 
Commander Farragut's name having risen, from various causes, thirty-eight de- 
grees on the navy roll since 1843, and now ranking number eighteen on the list 
of commanders, he was ordered to the chief command at Mare Island, and became 
Commandant of the new navy-yard. This position he filled with distinguished 
ability till the year 1858, when, having been commissioned in September, 1855, 
as Captain of the United States navy, he was ordered to the command of the 
steam-sloop Brooklyn, a twenty-five gun vessel, forming a portion of the home 
squadron under Flag-Officer McCluney. Captain Farragut was, however, removed 
from this command during the month of May, 1860, and the first of January, 
1861, found him again awaiting orders at Norfolk, where he was residing with his 
family. With the rebellion, which first reared its head during this year, Captain 
Farragut, notwithstanding his Southern interests, felt no sympathy, but expressed, 
with characteristic independence and warmth, his opposition to the course of the 
Southern people. He resisted all the flattering inducements of his many friends 
to desert the old flag, and closing his ears to the voice of the tempters, determined 
to leave with his family the city in which he had passed so many years and go 
where he might live in the peaceful enjoyment of his patriotic sentiments. Ac- 



264 DAVID GLASGOW FARRAGUT. 

cordingly, ou the eighteentli of April, 1861, the very night before the navy-yard 
was burned by the rebels, Captain Farragut left Norfolk, and proceeded on his 
way to New- York. Arriving at Baltimore, he found the railroad northward had 
been destroyed the day before, and was therefore obliged to complete the journey 
by engaging a passage for himself and family on a canal-boat. On reaching New- 
York, he immediately procured a cottage at Hastings, on the Hudson Eiver, 
where he could leave his family in safety, while he remained ready for action at 
his country's call. Owing to the death or desertion of some of his associate cap- 
tains in the service. Captain FaiTagut had risen to number thirty-one on the roll 
of captains in the navy. . His name, therefore, in connection with his past services 
and his fidelity to the Government, was quickly suggested when the expedition 
against New-Orleans was fixed upon early in 1862. He was appointed Flag-Offi- 
cer of the fleet, and sailed as Eear- Admiral in the flag-ship Hartford, for the Cres- 
cent City, which sun-endered, after a desperate defence, on the twenty-eighth of 
April. The courage and skill displayed by Commodore Farragut in this memo- 
rable engagement, together with the important results which crowned his success, 
won for him the gratitude and admiration of a generous people. After the cap- 
ture of New-Orleans, Commodore Farragut continued in command of the Western 
Gulf blockading squadron, superintending the attacks along the coast of Texas, 
and conducting the naval operations on the Southern Mississippi, at Port Hudson, 
and other points, success always following in the wake of the flag-ship Hartford. 



-~«='=£^^6^^'^^'55i— 




E"i5?-ljjrA.Ii.Bittl>ie- 



GEN. JAMES LONGSTRKET. 



. 



JAMES LOI^GSTEEET. 

THE subject of this sketcli was born in Virginia, and entered as a cadet at 
West-Point in 1838. He was breveted a Second Lieutenant of the Fourth 
regular infantry on July first, 1842. In March, 1845, he was appointed to the 
Eighth infantry ; and commanded a light artillery company at Monterey in Mex- 
ico, where he greatly distinguished himself. He was a First Lieutenant in Febru- 
ary, 1847, and acted as Adjutant from June the same year, till July, 1849. 

After the battles of Contreras and Chui-ubusco, he was, on the twentieth 
August, 1848, made brevet Captain "for gallant and meritorious conduct;" and 
on the eighth of September following, was brevetted a Major for distinguished 
bravery in the battle of El Molino del Rey. He also figured conspicuously in 
the assault on Chapultepec, where he was severely wounded. 

In 1861, when the rebellion commenced, Major Longstreet immediately 
offered himself to the rebels, and received an appointment under General Beaure- 
gard. At the battle of Bull Run, July eighteenth, 1861, his brigade covered 
Blackburn's Ford, and he himself was especially praised by the rebel commander 
for his efforts on that occasion. 

In March, 1862, Longstreet was with the rebel army, at Winchester, when 
defeated by General Shields. He then accompanied General Lee to the Penin- 
sula, and commanded the rear-guard in the retreat fi-om Yorktown. At Williams- 
burgh he vainly tried to arrest the onward progress of the victorious Federals ; 
and, in the battles that followed, on and about the Chickahominy, he was con- 
spicuous for coolness, bravery, and skill. 

In August, 1862, when the rebel army again moved North, Longstreet was 
directed to join Stonewall Jackson, which he did, on the twent3^-ninth, by passing 
thorough Thoroughfare Gap. On the following day he shared in the second 
battle of Manassas Plains, and then accompanied Lee across the Potomac into 
Maryland, joining in the battle of Antietam. With the rebel army, he then 
retreated to Winchester ; but, soon afterward, he proceeded to Warrenton, and 
thence to Fredericksburgh, at which place he commanded the left of the rebel 
forces in the attack made upon them by Burnside. 

In April, 1863, we find Longstreet investing Suffolk in North-Carolina ; and 
then again, in May, he is at Chancellorsville with his veteran soldiers. From 



266 JAMES LONGSTREET. 

there he proceeds once more to Fredericksburgh ; then back to Culpeper, and 
thence with Lee again to Maryland. At the battle of Gettysburgh he was on the 
right of the rebel army, and opjDosed to General Sickles. In September, he was 
sent to reenforce Bragg, in East-Tennessee, and, on the twentieth, commanded the 
left of the rebel army at the battle of Chickamagua. 

On the eighteenth of October, Grant took command of the Department of 
Tennessee, the Union army being then at Chattanooga, and the rebel forces on 
Lookout Mountain. Soon after this, Longstreet was detached from Bragg and 
sent on an expedition against Knoxville. Orders were, therefore, forwarded to 
Burnside, who commanded in that department, to lure him away as far as possible. 
Accordingly, Burnside moved from Knoxville to meet Longstreet, which he did 
at Loudon, and, after a sharp contest, the rebels were repulsed. Burnside, how- 
ever, withdrew to Knoxville to foi'tify his position there ; and Longstreet imme- 
diately laid siege to it, surrounding the city on the eighteenth of November. 
On the twenty-ninth, reenforced by the troops of Jones, Jackson, and Williams, 
he made the assault. In strong force, he charged npon General Ferrero's position 
at Fort Saunders, but was met by such a murderous discharge of grapeshot and 
canister, and by such a steady fire from the Union rifle-pits, that his troops 
faltered and fell back, and, finally, were repulsed with great slaughter. Gene- 
ral Burnside humanely offered a truce to Longstreet, until the evening, to aflbrd 
time for removing the wounded and burying the dead. 

The attack having failed, and hearing that Sherman was approaching to join 
Burnside, Longstreet made a hasty retreat toward Virginia, with the Union troops 
in close pui-suit. At Bean's Station, on December fourteenth, an encounter took 
place, without any material result ; and Longstreet then proceeded to Eedbridge 
and Bull Gap, where he made a stand, on account of its great natural advantages. 
On the sixteenth of December,. General Averill succeeded in cutting off 
Longstreet's communications with Eichmond by damaging the Virginia and Ten- 
nessee Eailroad at Salem, and destroying several depots and wagons with rebel 
stores. But the rebels succeeded elsewhere in capturing large quantities of Union 
supplies, which thus countei'balanced it, and enabled Longstreet to subsist his 
army. In January, 1864, he was heavily reenforced, and again made a movement 
upon Knoxville. On the route a partial success over a portion of the Union 
forces sent to intercept the rebels, enabled him to advance within a few miles of 
the city ; but, after some short stay in the neighborhood, he was once more com- 
pelled to retreat to the old position at Bull's Gap, with his headquarters at Green- 
ville. Here he remained until, in March, he was ordered to join Lee. 

In the battles of the Wilderness, Longstreet's corps was opposed to the 
Union troops under Hancock. On Thursday, May fifth, about four P.M., the 
fight between them began, and continued furiously till night. Hancock, with his 



JAMES LONGSTREET. 267 

accustomed daring and skill, making the most impetuous assaults upon his foe, 
who, however, were veterans of well-trained soldiers, and thus, for a time, drove 
back the fi-esh recruits of the Union army. Bat the indomitable courage of our 
troops, under Hancock's own eye and personal encouragement, finally drove Long- 
street back over a mile. 

Next morning, at daylight, the fight was renewed. Longstreet was reenforced 
by Lee sending some fi-esh troops to him, and a part of Burnside's corps was 
accordingly detached to the assistance of Hancock. But the nature of the battle- 
field was such, owing to the quantity of timber and its accompanying under- 
growth, that the rebels, well acquainted with the ground, had an advantage, which 
they turned to good account. Occupying a close forest, it was found impossible 
to dislodge them, and thus Longstreet was able, about eleven A.M., to throw the 
National forces into some temporary confusion, and drive Hancock back to his 
breastworks. Soon afterward the rebels succeeded in actually planting their colors 
inside these breastworks, but not being able to sustain themselves, were soon 
ejected. The charge of Longstreet was completely overwhelming and crushing. 
Solid masses of infantry were hurled upon Hancock, line after line, with an im- 
petuosity which nothing could withstand. It was exceedingly fortunate for the 
whole army that he was checked at the critical period, and di-iven back with as 
much precipitation as he came. In this battle, Longstreet was severely wounded 
in the neck or shoulder, and was removed to Ljoichbui-gh for quiet and proper 
attendance. 



JAMES LOUIS PETIGRU. 

JAMES LOUIS PETIGRU was born tenth May, 1789, at Abbeville, South- 
Carolina. The place had been settled by his maternal grandfather, Mr. Gi- 
bert, a refugee fi-om Bordeaux on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. He was 
pastor of his little band, and endured many hardships, ending in exile and disap- 
pointment for conscience sake. Mr. Petigi-u inherited the same spirit of quiet de- 
votion to principle, and he was of the stuff of which martyrs are made. His 
father, a man of the quaintest humor, was from the North of Ireland, where the 
family still resides. His physiognomy, his wit, and mental endowments he derived 
from his Celtic blood. But he was a universal man. Living in a small commu- 
nity, among the most prejudiced people, there was nothing provincial about him. 
His opinions, his manners, his ways of thinking were entirely his own. On none 
of the questions that agitated South-Carolina did he ever share the popular passion. 
His mind rose far above their delusions, and neither fear nor favor could ever in- 
fluence his judgment. Yet his local attachment was so strong as to keep him all 
his life at that spot, although from the time of nullification he said he knew there 
was no State in the Union where he should have so little political influence, and 
after the rebellion broke out he " regretted every day more and more that he had 
not emigrated north of the Potomac forty years before." He was the real head of 
the Union party in nullification. He called the first meeting, consisting of him- 
self and two others. They gathered all that was wise and good in the State, and 
if the battle with disunion had then been fought out, happy would it have been 
for the country and for him ; for he would then have seen the triumph of the 
Constitution, instead of going out in these dark days of anguish, when his bitter 
lament was, that having come in with the Union he should live long enough to 
see it broken up. 

His opposition to the political creed of the South was fundamental ; he was 
a sincere EejDublican. They are Oligarchists — he was a Federalist, and the 
State Rights doctrine was his abhorrence, though no one would more boldly 
have resisted any encroachment on the constitutional rights of the States. But 
he denied that there had ever been the least attempt on the part of the Govern- 
ment to infringe upon the liberties of a State or an individual up to the time of 
the rebellion. 

The unanimity of South-Carolina, which is her boast, he pronounced the 




J- L. PETrGRU. 



Xn^'-adatiei^dikf tta^*f&nfrtisJ>!itSfyC^^'T.ErajKPti^olerte'4>^Sat»fifisIlu 



JAMES LOUIS PETIGRU. 269 

most portentous omen, for lie said that in every liealtliy-minded community dif- 
ferences of opinion must exist, and lie regarded a stout minority as the very bul- 
wark of government. His was a passionate devotion to the Union ; what he suf- 
fered in witnessing the dereliction of his people none may ever tell. The very 
forbearance and respect which his character commanded from his countrymen 
rendered his position among them more trying to him. Had he faltered or yielded 
to the force of public sentiment, he would have been as a common man, and he 
would have been in as much danger of their resentment as any other who should 
venture not to go all lengths with them. That his moral and physical courage 
made him easily resist a whole people in arms surprises no one who knew his con- 
tempt for danger, and his indifference to popular applause. But his affections 
wei-e peculiarly tender, the sufferings which his mad neighbors brought upon 
themselves wrung his heart, and their affection for him was the only way to win 
him, had there been a flaw in his virtue. He had to endure the jjain of seeing 
himself deserted by the youths he had trained up, and by the friends of his life- 
time. The men who had stood shoulder to shoulder with him in the nullification 
times, all fell away, and he heard those he had been accustomed to honor utter 
sentiments the most atrocious and perverse. Of the young men whose minds he 
h;id so often elevated to the contemplation of noble things, not one adhered to 
him. Nevertheless, to the very last he hoped that when the war should be over 
the arguments in favor of the Union would address themselves better to the under- 
standings of the young. But no man ever threw himself so unhesitatingly upon 
his own sense of right, and that satisfied, he abided with entire serenity the result. 
He was very genial, and his unaffected hospitality is remembered with delight by 
every stranger who had the least claim wpon him. But his modesty was no less 
remarkable than his great intellect. In the practice of his profession he seemed 
to court only justice and benevolence, neglecting to reap wealth and careless of 
renown. His name as a lawyer stands among the foremost in th.e whole country ; 
yet he made all his gi-eat arguments in a small place, and never appeared before 
the Supreme Court but once. He never held public office but once, and that was 
the insignificant place of United States Attorney under Mr. Fillmore, who through 
Mr. Webster thanked him for coming to the rescue of the Government by taking 
the office to prevent the susi^ension of the laws, in consequence of the incumbent 
resigning under pretence that no man ought to hold an office under the general 
Government. It was at a moment of one of the ferments in South-Carolina, and 
every man who coveted the place was afraid to take it then. When the tumult 
subsided Mr. Petigru resigned. In 1849, he offered for the Legislature of South- 
Carolina, in hopes of obtaining some hold on his State, but he was not elected. 
He had sat in the Legislature during the nullification struggle. When that diffi- 
culty was staved off, and the parties dissolved, he disapproved of giving up the 



270 JAMES LOUIS PETIGKU. 

organization of the Union party ; and his wise foresight was justified in this. 
For the vanity of State Eights has blinded and led astray all the men who for- 
merly set their honorable jDride in their whole country. 

The poor and the oppressed found in him a zealous and untiring friend. As 
a lawyer, while exerting the utmost ingenuity to present his client's case in the 
best light, he was careful never to substitute his own character for any other 
man's ; but if ever he was tempted to press a claim, and uncompromisingly to ig- 
nore every thing but his client's interest, it was in favor of some poor woman, the 
victim of a hard system, and most generally not able to pay any thing for his serv- 
ices. The rights of the free negroes he was always defending; he was their 
champion to whom they always flew as a sure refuge. For the slaves he did not 
advocate immediate emancipation, but his ideas of slaveiy were diametrically op- 
posite to the unanimous voice of the South. He considered it a great social and 
political wi'ong, and himself did all he could to relieve the condition of those who 
fell under his hand. He opposed the extension of slavery over one foot of free 
soil, and would have been glad to see it shut up in the States where it existed, to 
die a natural death of suffocation. 

He enjoyed the comjDany of the young, and never failed to proclaim to them 
the dignity of obedience and order. His brilliant wit and friendly humor caused 
old and young to delight in him. 

In the autumn of 1858 he had been appointed by the Legislature of South- 
Carolina to codify her laws. The first part of this task he accomplished, and pre- 
sented in 1859-60 to the very delegates who pronounced the famous ordinance of 
secession. Nevertheless, they reappointed him to go on with the code, and the 
appointment was renewed the next 3'ear. A special delegation was sent to 
Charleston to receive his yearly work in February, 1863, but he never met them. 
The illness which proved fatal came to set him free. He met great pain and 
death with the same firmness that he exhibited in every trial, and the people who 
despised his counsels, with universal lamentation followed him to the grave. 
Never was there so complete a triumph of truth over error as the tribute wi'ung 
from a whole community of political opponents by the pure virtue of a single 
man. 

His example is good for all the young, for it shows a man cited as a model 
of patriotism, without place or power, by the force of character alone, acknow- 
ledged as one of the great men of this revolution. Had he been spared to us, it 
is believed that the day is not far distant when all eyes in the nation would have 
turned to him to adjust the differences between the North and the SoutL 




HOK CflARLES SUMNER 






OHAELES SUMNEE. 

CHARLES SUMNER was born in Boston, Massachusetts, January 6tli, 1811. 
His grandfather, Major Job Sumner, was an officer of the Revolutionary 
army ; and his father, Charles Pinckney Sumner, a lawyer by profession, and an 
accomplished gentleman of the old school, held during the latter part of his life 
the responsible position of sherifi' of Suffolk county, which comprises the city 
of Boston. 

At ten years of age, Charles Sumner was placed in the public Latin school 
of Boston, the best preparatory institution for classical training in New England, 
and, during the five years that he remained there, gave abundant evidences of 
industry and ability. Of naturally studious habits, he devoted much of his 
leisure time to reading history, of which he was passionately fond, and often 
arose before daylight to peruse Hume, Gibbon, and other favorite authors. At 
the age of fifteen, he entered Harvard College, where he was graduated in 1830, 
holding a respectable rank in his class, though one by no means commensurate 
with his natural abilities. More interested in the general improvement of his 
mind than in the acquisition of academical honors, he deviated from the pre- 
scribed curriculum whenever it was opposed to his plans or tastes, and pursued 
an independent course of reading in classical and general literature. Having 
devoted another year to private reading in his favorite studies, he entered in 
1831 the Law School at Cambridge, where, under the instruction of Professors 
Ashmun and Greeuleaf, and Justice Story, he acquired a profound knowledge 
of judicial science. Not content with the information to be gained from the 
ordinary text-books, he explored the curious learning of the old year-books, 
made himself familiar with the voluminous reports of the English and American 
courts, and neglected no opportunity to trace the principles of law to their sources. 

While still a student, he contributed articles to the American Jurist, a law 
quarterly published in Boston, which attracted attention by their marked ability 
and learning. Subsequently, he became the editor of this periodical, and it is a 
fact creditable to his early acquirements that several of his contributions have 
been cited as authorities by Justice Story. With each of the distinguished 
jurists above mentioned he was on terms of cordial intimacy; and Justice Story, 
down to the time of his death, in 1845, was his warm friend and admirer. 



272 



CHARLES SUMNEK. 



Leaving tlie Law School in 1834, Mr. Sumner passed a few montlis in tlie 
office of Benjamin Rand, in Boston, with a view of learning the forms of prac- 
tice ; and in the same year was admitted to the bar, at Worcester. He imme- 
diately commenced practice in Boston, where his reputation for learning and 
forensic ability secured him a warm welcome from the members of his profession, 
and offers to enter lucrative law partnerships, which he declined, preferring to 
make no engagements which should interfere with a long-cherished plan of. 
making a European tour. In addition to his large practice, he assumed the 
duties of reporter of the United States circuit court, in which capacity he pub- 
lished three volumes of cases, known as " Sumner's Reports," and comprising 
chiefly the decisions of Justice Story ; and during the absence of the latter at 
Washington, he filled his place for three winters at the Cambridge Law School, 
by appointment of the university authorities — a significant proof of the estima- 
tion in which his abilities were held. His lectures on constitutional law and the 
law of nations were prepared with much labor, and greatly enhanced his reputa- 
tion. Amid these absorbing pursuits he found time to edit "Dunlap's Treatise 
on Admiralty Practice," left unfinished by the author, and to which he added a 
copious appendix, containing many practical forms and precedents of jjleadings, 
since adojDted in our admiralty courts, and an index, tlie whole making a larger 
amount of matter than the original treatise. 

In 1837, having in the preceding year declined flattering offers of a profes- 
sorship at Cambridge, Mr. Sumner turned aside from the temptations and emolu- 
ments of professional life, to make his contemplated visit to Europe, where he 
remained until 1840. Carrying to foreign lands his enthusiasm for his profes- 
sion, he made a special study in Paris of the celebrated Code Napoleon, both in 
its essential principles and forms of procedure, with which his previous studies 
in civil law had made him tolerably familiar. In England, where he remained 
nearly a year, his opportunities for meeting society in all its forms were such as 
are rarely accorded to American travellers. Bench and bar vied with each other 
in paying attentions to him ; and in private circles, as well as in Westminster 
Hall — where, on more than one occasion, at the invitation of the judges, he sat 
by their side at trials — his reception was most gratifying. As an evidence of 
the impression which his extensive learning and accomplishments produced upon 
an eminent English jurist, it is related that, several years after his return to 
America, during the hearing in an insurance question before the court of ex- 
chequer, one of the counsel having cited an American case, Baron Parke (since 
created Lord Wensleydale, the ablest perhaps of the English judges of the time) 
asked him what book he quoted. He replied, "Sumner's Reports." Baron 
Rolfe inquired, "Is that the Mr. Sumner who was once in England?" and, upon 
receiving a reply in the affirmative, Baron Parke observed, " We shall not con- 



CHARLES SUMNER. 273 

sider it entitled to less attention, because reported by a gentleman whom wc all 
knew and respected." 

In Germany, Mr. Sumner made the acquaintance of Savigny, Mittermaier, 
and other eminent civilians, and of such distinguished characters as Humboldt, 
Carl Eitter the geographer, and Ranke the historian of popes ; and here, as else- 
where in Europe, he was frequently consulted by writers on the law of nations. 
At the request of Mr. Cass, then minister to France, he prepared a defence of the 
American claim in the North-eastern Boundary controversy, which was published 
in Galignani's Paris Messenger ; and he also conceived the idea of writing a "His- 
tory of the Law of Nations," a task which he finally relinquished to Mr. Whea- 
ton, whom he had consulted on the subject. 

After a brief residence in Italy, where he studied art and general literature, 
Mr. Sumner returned in 1840 to Boston, and resumed the practice of his profes- 
sion, though to a more moderate extent than formerly, liis attention being now 
much occupied with subjects connected with social and political ethics, and 
kindred topics. His love of law as a science, however, showed no diminution ; 
and in 1844-'46, he produced an edition of "Vesey's Reports," in twenty vol- 
umes, enriched with numerous notes, and with what was a novelty in a work of 
the kind, biographical illustrations of the text. 

Though previously known as a graceful and impressive speaker, it was not 
until 1845 that the full effect of Mr. Sumner's oratory was appreciated by a pub- 
lic assembly ; and not until then, it may be added, did the orator exhibit that 
lofty moral courage which he has since illustrated on innumerable occasions, as 
the advocate of principles which he believes to be right, in defiance of an ad- 
verse public opinion. On the 4th of July of that year, ho delivered before the 
municipal authorities of Boston an oration on " The True Grandeur of Nations," 
in which he exhibited the war system as the old ordeal by battle, a relic of 
middle-age barbarism retained by international law as the arbiter of justice 
between nations ; and portrayed, in contrast, the blessings of peace. The doc- 
trine was not then, and is not now, popular ; and, while the enunciation of it 
gained him warm friends and admirers, others received the speaker's sentiments 
with distrust or open ridicule. None, however, could deny the persuasive charm 
of his elocution, the finish and elegance of the diction, and the finely-conceived 
classical and historical illustrations with which many of his passages were en- 
riched. Justice Story, though dissenting from some of his views, declared that 
certain parts of his discourse were " such as befit an exalted mind and an en- 
larged benevolence," and resembled, in their manly moral enthusiasm, the great 
efforts of Sir James Mackintosh. From Chancellor 'Kent and other distinguished 
men he received equally strong tokens of approbation. In England, the oration- 
was republished in five or six different forms, and met with a ready sale. Rich- 



274 CHARLES SUMNER. 

ard Cobden, in a letter to the author, called it " the most noble contribution of 
any modern writer to the cause of peace ;" and the venerable poet Rogers wrote 
to him, " Every pulse of my heart beats in accordance with yours on the subject." 
His oration before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard University, in Au- 
gust, 1846, entitled " The Scholar, the Jurist, the Artist, and the Philanthropist," 
excited equal admiration ; and John Quincy Adams offered as a sentiment, at the 
annual dinner of the society, " The memory of the scholar, the jurist, the artist, 
and the philanthropist, and — not the memory, but the long life of the kindred 
spirit who has this day embalmed them all." "Writing to the orator shortly after- 
ward, on the success of his performance, he observed, in allusion to the approach- 
ing close of his own career : " I see you have a mission to perform. I look from 
Pisgah to the promised land — you must enter upon it." How fully the injunc- 
tion of the aged statesman has been obeyed, Mr. Sumner's life attests. Thence- 
forth he frequently appeared before public bodies and literary associations as the 
earnest and eloquent advocate of philanthropic measures ; and the two volumes 
of his " Oriitions and Speeches," published in 1850, contain noble specimens of 
national oratory. 

Previous to 1S45, Mr. Sumner had kept aloof from politics, his tastes being 
averse to the rough experiences and demoralizing influences to which the pro- 
fessed politician must too often accustom himself, and inclining wholly to those 
studies which can be pursued in the peaceful walks of private life. " The strife 
of i^arties," to use his own words, " had seemed ignoble to him." He had always, 
however, borne his testimony against slavery ; and upon the agitation, in 1846, 
of the question of the annexation of Texas, which involved the extension of 
slave-territory within the Union, he came promptly forward as an opponent of 
the measure. His speech on this subject, before a popular convention held in 
Faneuil Hall, in JJoston, in that year, is one of the most bi'illiant and pointed he 
ever delivered. 

In the autumn of 1845, the Dane professorship of law in the Cambridge 
Law School became vacant by the .death of Justice Story ; and it was supposed, 
in accordance with the expressed desire of the late incumbent, that Mr. Sumner 
would be appointed his successor. If that recommendation were not sufficient, 
the declaration of Chancellor Kent that he was "the only person in the country 
competent to succeed Story," might have been entitled to some weight with those 
having the appointment. It was, however, never offered to him — a proof that 
the estimation in which he had been held a few years previous had for some 
i-eason declined. The extreme views expressed by him on questions of public 
interest which had then begun to agitate the community, probably alarmed the 
conservatism of many who had been his admirers, and weighed against him. It 
is certain, however, that his social status with a portion of the community thence- 



CHARLES SUMNEK. 275 

fortli became impaired ; though it may be doubted whether, in the generous sup- 
port whicli the expression of his sentiments brought him from many to whom he 
had been previously unknown, he suffered any material loss of position. 

Having once embarked in the crusade against the extension of the slave- 
power, Mr. Sumner delivered in September, 1846, an address before the Whig 
state convention of Massachusetts, "On the Anti-Slavery Duties of the "Whig 
Party;" and in the succeeding month he published a letter of rebuke to the 
Honorable Robert C. Winthrop, then a representative in Congress from Massa- 
chusetts, for his vote in favor of the war with Mexico. He refused to allow 
himself to be put forward as a rival candidate to that gentleman in the impend- 
ing election, but supported Mr. Samuel G. Howe, who was nominated in that 
capacity, and in a speech, delivered during the canvass, opposed the Mexican 
war and all supplies for its prosecution. These acts, instigated by a clear con- 
viction of the demands which duty imposed, alienated him from many old friends, 
and made his position an isolated and in many respects an unpleasant one. He 
still adhered, however, to the Whig party, with which he had always acted, and 
as late as September, 1847, was a delegate to the state convention ; but after the 
schism in the Whig ranks, in 1848, which resulted in the formation of the Free- 
Soil party, he attached himself to the latter organization, and during the presi- 
dential canvass of 1848 was an earnest advocate of the election of Van Buren 
and Adams. 

In 1850, the Whig party lost its ascendency in Massachusetts ; and upon the 
legislature elected in that year, and which contained an opposition majority com- 
posed of Democratic and Free-Soil members, devolved the choice of a Senator 
in Congress to succeed Mr. Webster. Mr. Sumner, in opposition to his often- 
expressed wishes to avoid official life, was nominated for the office by the mem- 
bers of his party, Mr. Winthrop being the candidate of the Whigs ; and after an 
exciting contest, prolonged by his refusal to give any pledge as to his future 
course, beyond what was implied in his past acts, he was, on April 24th, 1851, 
elected by a coalition between the Free-Soilers and Democrats. This result, the 
first substantial triumph of the Anti-Slavery party in Massachusetts, was appro- 
priately celebrated in many places. 

Mr. Sumner's first, important speech in Congress was directed against the 
fugitive-slave law of 1850, which he denounced as unconstitutional, tyrannical, 
and cruel. On this occasion he laid down the well-known formula that " free- 
dom is national, and slavery sectional," which has since been adopted by his 
party as their rule of political action. He participated with earnestness in the 
debates on the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and on the Kansas troubles ; 
and, upon the formation of the Republican party, in 1855-'56, he became, with 
the great body of the Free-Soilers, identified with it. 



276 



CHARLES SUMNER. 



On May 19tli and 20tli, Mr. Sumner delivered in the Senate the celebrated 
speech, subsequently published under the title of " The Crime against Kansas," 
the most elaborate and masterly of any of his political efforts up to that time, but 
which greatly incensed certain of the Southern members. It was determined 
that the man who had so fearlessly and eloquently attacked the institutions of 
the South should be silenced by force, if arguments were unavailing ; and on 
May 22d, shortly after the adjournment of the Senate, while Mr. Sumner was 
'sitting at his desk, absorbed in writing, Preston S. Brooks, one of the representa- 
tives from South Carolina, entered the Senate-chamber, attended by Mr. Keitt, 
also of South Carolina, and Mr. Edmundson, of Virginia, and with a heavy 
gutta-percha cane struck the offending Senator repeated blows over the head, 
from the effects of which he almost immediately fell to the iloor insensible. The 
excitement throughout the country, in consequence of this outrage, is too fresh 
in the public mind to need more than a passing allusion. It became a powerful 
element in the succeeding presidential canvass, and perceptibly widened the 
breach between the North and the South. A resolution for the expulsion of 
Brooks was almost immediately introduced into the House of Eepresentatives, 
but failed of receiving the requisite two-thirds vote. The severe illness which 
followed the assault prevented Mr. Sumner from taking any part in the public 
affairs during the succeeding summer and winter ; and in March, 1857, his health 
was so seriously impaired, that he'was induced, by the advice of his physicians, 
to make a visit to Europe. Previous to his departure, the legislature of Massa- 
chusetts afforded him a gratifying proof of their esteem and confidence by re- 
electing him a United States Senator for another full term — the vote being 
unanimous in the senate, and almost so in the house of representatives, contain- 
ing several hundred members. In the autumn of the same year, he returned to 
the United States ; but his health being still too much impaired to admit of the 
resumption of his legislative duties, he went abroad again in May, 1858, and for 
more than a year was subjected to a course of medical treatment, which caused 
the most acute suffering, but which restored him to his legislative duties in the 
winter of 1859-'60, in comparative vigor. 

As if to show that the attempt to crush the utterance of his opinions had 
inspired him to renewed efforts in the anti-slavery cause, his first speech after his 
recovery was an eloquent exposition of the demoralizing influences of slavery, 
subsequently widely distributed in pamphlet form, under the title of " The Bar- 
barism of Slavery." He spoke frequently in favor of the Eepublican candidates 
during the presidential canvass of 1860; and, in the memorable session of 
1860-61, maintained a stem opposition to all compromises with or concessions 
to the seceding states as a means of restoring them to the Union. With all 
patriotic statesmen, he has urged the vigorous prosecution of the war against 



CHARLES SUMNER. 277 

the rebellious states, and, as might be supposed from his previous course, is in 
favor of making emancipation an element in the contest. Emancipation he has 
repeatedly declared to be the speediest, if not the only mode, of bringing the 
war to a close ; and he justifies that measure on moral, historical, and particu- 
larly on constitutional grounds. One of Mr. Sumner's last great efforts was a 
speech delivered in the Senate, on January 9th, 1862, on the question of the 
rendition of Mason and Slidell, which he advocated on principles of international 
law always previously insisted upon by the United States government. 

In addition to the publications already mentioned, Mr. Sumner has a work 
oh " White Slavery in the Barbary States" (Boston, 1853), expanded from a lec- 
ture ; and an additional volume of speeches, entitled " Recent Speeches and 
Addresses" (1856). 

Though past fifty, Mr. Sumner gives little evidence of the approach of old 
age. His tall and well-knit figure has lost none of its erectness ; and his features, 
when lighted up by enthusiasm, or during the relaxations of social intercourse, 
have a youthfulness of appearance which seems hardly in keeping with the 
gravity supposed to pertain to the senatorial office. In personal appearance, as 
well as in the luxuriance and elaborate finish of his style, he has been compared 
to Edmund Burke. "For depth and accuracy of thought," says an eminent 
British critic, "for fulness of historical information, and for a species of gigantic 
morality, which treads all sophistry under foot, and rushes at once to the right 
conclusion, we know not a single orator speaking the English tongue who ranks 
as his superior. He combines to a remarkable extent the peculiar features of 
our British emancipationists, the perseverance of Granville Sharp, the knowledge 
of Brougham, the enthusiasm of Wilberforce, and a courage which, as he is still a 
young man, may be expected to tell powerftdly on the destinies of the republic." 

33 



WILLIAM FAEEAlSr SMITH. 

THE subject of this sketch (familiarly called " Baldy " Smith) was born in 
Vermont, on the twenty-seventh February, 1824. In 1841, he entered 
West-Point Academy, and remained there four years, graduating with distin- 
guished honors. Amongst his classmates were Fitz-John Porter, Charles Stone, 
and John W. Davidson. 

On leaving West-Point he was brevetted Second Lieutenant in the Topo- 
graphical Engineers, and for nearly two years acted as Assistant Professor of 
Mathematics at the Military Academy. In 185S, he was made First Lieutenant, 
and on July 1, 1859, received his commission as Captain. 

During this period he was employed in various surveys of the Lake Superior 
region, of the Eio Grande, Texas, the military road to California, and in the Mexi- 
can boundary question. 

In 1861, he had the appointment of Secretary to the Light-House Board at 
Washington, but immediately offered his services in the battle-field when the war 
broke out. He took command of the Third Vermont volunteers, and on the thir- 
teenth of August, 1861, was made a Brigadier-General. On the twenty-sixth Sep- 
tember, he was in camp, commanding the advance brigade of the Union army, 
near the chain-bridge on the Potomac, when he ordered a reconnoissance to be 
made at Lewinsville, where his men were attacked by the rebel Stuart and obliged 
to retreat. Four weeks later, in company with McClellan and other officers, he 
proceeded with a reconnoitring party to Flint Hill, about two miles from Fairf£vx 
Court-House, and was otherwise engaged on similar service until the famous bat- 
tles of the Peninsula in 1862, where we find him commanding a corps under Gen- 
eral Franklin. Here he distinguished himself for great skill and bravery, and, in 
July, was promoted to Major-General of volunteers for his services at that time. 
This, however, was not then confirmed by the Senate, and we find him still under 
Franklin with the army on its retreat from Harrison's Landing. 

In September, General Smith participated in the battle of Antietam, lead- 
ing Franklin's advance, and by his skilful arrangements doing effective service. 
In reference to it, -the official report of General McClellan says : " The advance 
was opportune. The attack of the enemy on this position, but for the timely 
arrival of his corps, must have been disastrous." 




Maj.GKN.W-I'- SMITH- 



-.IWy.-l^r-.^ 



WILLIAM FARRAN SMITH. 279 

It appears that, ou nearing the field of battle and hearing that one of our bat- 
teries was hotly engaged without supports, General Smith sent two regiments to 
its relief from General Hancock's brigade. Afterward, on inspecting the ground, 
General Smith ordered the other regiments of Hancock's brigade, with two bat- 
teries, to the threatened position, and thus saved it. 

After the battle of Antietam, General Smith had command of the Sixth corps, 
under Burnside, and shared in the disastrous assault of Fredericksburgh on De- 
cember thirteenth. Soon after this, January twenty-third, 1863, he was relieved 
from his command by Burnside, in an order to that effect, which also included 
General Franklin and some others of equal note. The cause of this is not well 
made known, but enough has been seen to show that it was fi"om no military in- 
capacity or want of attention to duty. 

General Smith was ordered to report to the Adjutant- General of the United 
States army ; and, when the rebels invaded Maryland and Pennsylvania, in July, 
he was placed by General Couch in charge of the raw troops that had lately come 
from New- York. His post was opposite Harrisburgh, there to resist any attack 
made upon that place. When Lee retreated. Smith followed close upon him with 
about six thousand men, a small number of cavalry, and two batteries of artillery. 
At Carlisle he encountered and drove back a body of the rebels, following them 
some distance. He then, with his troops shoeless and living on the country as 
best they coidd, joined the army of the Potomac. 

On September twenty-third, when Hooker was sent to reenforce Eosecrans, 
General Smith was ajipointed to accompany him, arriving at Bridgeport in the 
early part of October. 

During the operations connected with the battles at Chattanooga he greatly 
distinguished himself, as the following extracts from the reports of Generals 
Thomas, Sherman, and Grant will show : 

"November 7, 1863. 

" The recent movements, resulting in the establishment of a new and short 
line of communication with Bridge^sort and the jDossession of the Tennessee Eiver, 
were of so brilliant a character as to deserve special notice. The skill and cool 
gallantry of the officers and men composing the expedition under Brigadier-Gene- 
ral William F. Smith, Chief Engineer, (and others mentioned,) in effecting a per- 
manent lodgment on the south side of the river, at Brown's Ferry, deserve the 
highest praise." 

Indeed, the various reports forwarded from the battle-fields clearly show that 
these successful operations " brought great relief to the army, and saved the coun- 
try the humiliation of seeing the important position of Chattanooga evacuated by 
our forces." In General Sherman's official report he speaks in the highest terms 
of the work planned and done under the personal supervision of General W. F. 



280 WILLIAM FARRAN SMITH. 

Smith. "I cannot," says he, "praise it too highlj^ I have never beheld any 
work done so quietly, so well ; and I doubt if the history of war can show a bridge 
of that extent (namely, one thousand three hundred and fifty feet) laid down so 
noiselessly and well in so short a time. I attribute it to the genius and intelli- 
gence of General W. F. Smith." 

In February, 186-4, we find General Smith on the personal staff of General 
Grant, as Chief Engineer. In March he visited Washington, and, on the twenty- 
third, was confirmed in the rank of Major-General of volunteers. On the thirty- 
first of March he was assigned to duty with General Butler,. and arrived at Fort- 
ress Monroe two days later. Shortly afterward he was directed to organize the 
troop)s in that department for new and special service. He made Yorktown his 
headquarters, having the Eighteenth army corps as his immediate command. 

On the fourth of May active operations commenced, and at dusk of that day 
the first boat conveying the troops from Yorktown to Fortress Monroe left with 
General Smith on board. On arrival at General Butler's headquarters, a consulta- 
tion took place, and General Smith then left for Newport News, the various trans- 
ports with the army on board following him. 

To this moment the destination of the troops was a secret, except to the 
chiefs of the expedition, but now it was evident that up the James Eiver to Eich- 
mond was intended. General Smith, with his accustomed activity, was in ad- 
vance, and with General Gillmore, who had joined the troops, in command of the 
Tenth corps, skilfully superintended the landing of the men at Bermuda Hun- 
dred, about a mile above City Point. This movement of our army either took the 
enemy by surprise, or they chose to remain quiescent at the time, for no attemjit 
at molestation occurred. On the ninth of May a movement of the army was made 
toward Petersburgh, General Smith commanding the right and Gillmore the left 
in advance. On the eleventh, with a large force, he moved up the Richmond 
turnpike, encountering the enemy a little above the Bottom Church, and after 
two successive engagements during the day, drove them back full two miles. He, 
himself, was constantly in the advance, and numerous stories are told of the hair- 
breadth escapes he had. That night his troops held a position at Proctor's Creek, 
twelve miles from Richmond, and on the three following days nothing but skir- 
mishing took place. But on Monday, May sixteenth, the enemy, having been re- 
enforced on the previous evening, and commanded by Beauregard in person, took 
advantage of a thick fog, and suddenly came upon our advance under Heckman 
with his brigade. So great was the impetuosity of the rebels, and so unexpected 
their approach, that our troops were driven back for a time, but ultimately suc- 
ceeded in regaining their old position. The fight was very severe, but both Gen- 
eral Smith and General Gillmore were conspicuously seen everywhere amidst it. 

As the principal object of our movements in this direction was other than 



WILLIAM FARRAN SMITH. 281 

ostensibly represented, General Smith fell back again to the intrenchments at 
Bermuda Hundred, and with various encounters with the enemy, remained there 
until the twenty-ninth of May. At that time it was known Grant had come south 
as far as Hanover Town, on the Pamunkey, and information having reached But- 
ler tliat Beauregard had detached a portion of his troops to join Lee, General 
Smith with General Brooks and their commands was despatched in transports to 
the White House via Fortress Monroe. On the thirty-first May, Smith arrived at 
the White House, and the following morning received orders from General Grant to 
join him immediately at Coal Harbor, and take a position on the right of the Sixth 
corps. This was done at three o'clock the same ■afternoon, and though his men 
had had a severe march, besides great labor during the two previous days, he gal- 
lantly took them into action immediately on arrival. 

One incident here deserves to be mentioned as evincing the popularity of 
General Smith amongst the soldiers. It has already been stated that he had for- 
merly commanded the Sixth corps at Fredericksburgh, and now when the men of 
that corps again beheld him come to their support, great satisfaction was mani- 
fested, and the familiar term by which he was known, " Baldy," was uttered by 
many in a kindly way. 

The battle of Coal Harbor resulted in the enemy being everywhere repulsed. 
At the first onset some of Smith's men got into confusion, broke, and fell back ; 
but, with characteristic promptitude, he personally ari-ested their retreat, and 
drove them to the front, where himself kept continually under fire. It was thus 
that by his' presence, confidence and courage were restored among any of the regi- 
ments that faltered. In the commencement of the action his horse was shot under 
him, and one of his orderlies wounded in the leg. After the battle his headquar- 
ters were established within so short a distance of the skirmishing line that it was 
any tiling but very agreeable to his staff. 

In this position General Smith remained until Sunday, the twelfth of June, 
when, it being determined by Grant to c^oss the James Eiver and join Butler, 
he was sent back with his corps to White House, and there embarked once again 
for Bermuda Hundred, where he arrived on the fourteenth. Immediately after- 
ward he was directed to proceed against Petersburgh, which place he, in company 
with Hancock and Kautz, assaulted on the fifteenth. 

General Grant had arrived at Butler's and assumed entire command of the 
forces. In his despatch to the War Office he says : " The Eighteenth corps 
(Smith's) were transfeiTed from the White House to Bermuda Hundred by water, 
and moved out near to Petersburgh. The night of their arrival they sui-prised, or 
rather captured, the very strong works north-east of Petersburgh, before a sufii- 
cient force could be got in them by the enemy. ... Too much praise cannot 
be given the troops and their commanders for the energy and fortitude displayed 
the last five days. Day and night have been all the same." 



282 WILLIAM FARRAN SMITH. 

It appears, by accounts from the battle-field, that General Smith and his gal- 
lant cordis arrived at Bermuda Hundred on the evening of the fourteenth, and 
at one o'clock in the morning of the fifteenth set out for Petersburgh. Under his 
command was Hinks's division of negroes, and they are spoken of as having be- 
haved very gallantly in the fight. 

The works taken were of great strength and importance, and General Grant 
afterward, on riding along the front, expressed himself greatly astonished. Smith 
evidently was a fighting General, yet, withal, so regardful of his men that he never 
risked their lives more than he did his own ; and thus " Baldy " Smith was not 
only much loved, but readily followed. 

On the twenty-first. President Lincoln arrived on a visit to the camj^ and to 
General Grant. General Smith was then at Wright's headquarters, and was pre- 
sented to the President afterward, in company with Grant and other Generals, 
ha\-ing a private consultation with him. 

On the thirtieth of June, General Smith made a demonstration against the 
position occupied hj what is called the "White House," but was unable to cflect 
the object he had in view, owing to want of sufficient cooperation. A few daj^s 
afterward he was visited by several distinguished Senators from Washington, and 
he also hospitably entertained two French officers who had been sent by Napoleon 
to observe our artillery practice, etc. 

Active operations having now for a time comparatively ceased in front of 
Petersburgh, and General Smith's health requiring some relief from the incessant 
labors he had been engaged in for the past two months, leave of absence was 
granted him, and, leaving General Martindale in command of his corps, he depart- 
ed for the North via Fortress Monroe. On the thirteeiitli of July he arrived at 
New-York, en route for his residence in Orange County. 

General " Baldy " Smith has the reputation of being one of the most skilful 
engineers in the army, and his coolness and bravery on the battle-field have been 
frequently commended. His movements are rapid, prompt, and to the i)urpose ; 
his judgment sound, and his personal courage of the highest order, while his care- 
ful forethought and consideration for the troops under his command have greatly 
endeared him to his men. 




\IA,T. r,r''A'. GECi P,. M'- CLELL.^?:, U. S, A. 




Il/-^l^ 



KEVr yOKK, GT 



GEORGE BRUsTTOI^ McOLELLAN". 

GEOEGE BRINTON McCLELLAN was born in the city of Philaclelpliia, 
December 3d, 1826. He was the son of a physician, and was descended 
from Colonel McClellan of the Eevolutionary army. At the age of sixteen he 
entered the United States Military Academy at West Point. In all the studies 
he maintained the second rank from the outset, and was graduated with the 
second rank in general merit in 1846. He was commissioned a second-lieutenant 
of engineers, July 1st, 1846. Congress, in the previous May, had authorized the 
organization of a company of sappers, miners, and pontoniers, and the recruits 
for this company were assembled at West Point. Lieutenant McClellan was 
attached to it, and assisted very actively in its drill and practical instruction for 
duty. Captain Swift and Lieutenant Gustavus W. Smith were his superior offi- 
cers in the company, which sailed from West Point, September 24th. Ordered 
at first to report to General Taylor, the company went to Camargo, but was 
thence ordered to countermarch to Matamoras, and move with the colmmn of 
General Patterson. Captain Swift was left in the hospital at Matamoras, and the 
only commissioned officers in the company were Lieutenants Smith and McClel- 
lan ; and great praise was bestowed upon them by the engineer officer for the 
amount and excellence of their work done in this part of the Mexican war. 

From Tampico the sappers and miners went to Vera Cruz, where, until the 
surrender of the castle, Lieutenant McClellan was engaged in the most severe 
duties, in opening paths and roads to facilitate the investment, in covering recon- 
noissances, and in the unceasing toil and hardship of the trenches ; and his work 
was always done "with unsurpassed intelligence and zeal."' Tribute is rendered 
in all the official reports to the services of this company and the efficiency of its 
two lieutenants on the march to Cerro Gordo, at Jalapa, and San Antonio. Be- 
fore the battle of Contreras, Lieutenant McClellan had a horse shot under him 
by the Mexican pickets, and in that battle he served with Magruder's battery. 
General Twiggs, in his official report, says: "Lieutenant George B. McClellan, 
after Lieutenant Calendar was wounded, took charge of and managed the howit- 
zer battery, with judgment and success, until it became so disabled as to require 
shelter. For Lieutenant McClellan's efficiency and gallantry in this affair, I pre- 
sent his name for the favorable consideration of the general-in-chief " General 



284 GEORGE BRINTON McCLELLAN. 

Persifer F. Smith, in liis report of all the actions at Cliurubusco and Contreras, 
says : " Lieutenant G. W. Smith, in command of the engineer comjDany, and Lieu- 
tenant McClellan, his subaltern, distinguished themselves throughout the whole 
of the three actions. Nothing seemed to them too bold to be undertaken, or too 
difficult to be executed, and their services as engineers were as valuable as those 
they rendered in battle at the head of their gallant men." For "gallant and 
meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco," McClellan was 
breveted first-lieutenant ; and for " gallant and meritorious conduct in the battle 
of Molino del Eey," captain ; but the latter brevet, through some delicacy toward 
others, he declined to accept. In the battle of Chepultepec he was one of "five 
lieutenants of engineers" who, in the words of Lieutenant-General Scott, " won 
the admiration of all about them ;" and for his services on that day he was bre- 
veted captain. He was thus "on duty with the engineer company from its 
organization at West Point, in the siege of Vera Cruz, and in all the battles of 
General Scott's march to the city of Mexico." 

Captain McClellan rettirned with his company, which reached "West Point in 
June, 1847. In the next year he became its commander, and remained with it 
until 1851. During this time he translated from the French the manual of bayo- 
net exercise, which has since become the text-book of the service. He superin- 
tended the construction of Fort Delaware in the fall of 1851, and in the spring 
of 1852 was assigned to duty in the expedition that explored Eed River, and 
also served as an engineer upon some explorations in Texas. 

Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, in 1853, committed to Captain McClellan 
an important and difficult survey of the Cascade range of mountains on the Pa- 
cific, with a view to the construction of the Pacific railroad. In his report the 
secretary says : " The examination of the approaches and passes, made by Cap- 
tain McClellan of the corps of engineers, presents a reconnoissance of great value, 
and, though performed under adverse circumstances, exhibits all the information 
necessary to determine the practicability of this jDortion of the route, and reflects 
the highest credit on the capacity- and resource of that officer." Besides the 
reports descriptive of the region surveyed. Captain McClellan also fm-nished a 
valuable collection of "Memoranda on Railways," the result of examinations 
made into the working of various railroads, to assist in determining the practica- 
bility of roads over the various routes. 

In 1855, McClellan received a captaincy in the first United States cavalry, 
and in the same year was chosen as one of three officei-s to be sent on a military 
commission to Europe. He sailed, in company with Majors Delafield and Mor- 
decai, in April, 1855, and proceeded to the Crimea and to northern Russia, to 
observe the war then in progress between Russia, England, and France ; and sub- 
sequently visited every military establishment of interest on the continent and in 



GEORGE BRINTON McCLELLAN. 285 

England. After an absence of two years, the commission returned, and the re- 
sults of Captain McClellan's observations were embodied in a report to the secre- 
tary of war, published in 1857, " On the Organization of European Armies, and 
the Operations of the "War" — a work which established the rejjutation of the 
young officer as a scientific soldier. 

Upon receiving the offer of an important civil employment, that of vice- 
president and director of the Illinois Central Railroad, Captain McClellan resigned 
his position in the amiy, January 16th, 1857. His position on the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad he held for three years, when he was offered and accepted the 
presidency of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. This position he held when 
the war broke out. 

When the state of Ohio began to marshal its foi'ces in response to the Presi- 
dent's call, McClellan was immediately chosen as the citizen of that state most 
fit to organize the volunteer regiments into an army. That patriotic state has 
therefore the honor of having brought to the front the man of the time ; though 
Pennsylvania, through her governor, had also called upon the young captain, 
but vainly, to head her stout thousands as they were mustered for the war. 
Ohio's volunteers, thanks to the efficiency of the man chosen to lead them, be- 
came at once an army, and were ready to win battles, •while those of some not 
less patriotic states were still raw recruits. On the l-4th of May, General McClel- 
lan was appointed by the President a major-general in the United States army, 
and assigned to the command of the then newly created department of the Ohio, 
formed of the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, with his head-quarters at Cin- 
cinnati. Here he was still busy in the organization and equipment of the forces 
mustered in the various parts of his district, when the rebel forces from Eastern 
Virginia began offensive movements against the Western Virginians, who were 
faithful to the Union. Confederate troops occupied Philippi and Grafton, and 
began to burn bridges ; and on May 25th, General McClellan ordered an advance 
against them of the first Virginia regiment, stationed at Wheeling, and of the 
fourteenth and sixteenth Ohio regiments, which crossed the Ohio respectively at 
Marietta and Bellaire. On the 26th, at night, the rebels fled precipitately from 
Grafton, and it was occupied by Colonel Kelly of the first Virginia, with his own 
regiment and the sixteenth Ohio, May 30th. Colonel Steedman, of the four- 
teenth Ohio, occupied Parkersburgh. 

Simultaneously vnth. his entrance into Virginia, General McClellan, in a 
proclamation to the people of Western Virginia, said : " The general government 
has long endured the machinations of a few factious rebels in your midst. Armed 
traitors have in vain endeavored to deter you from expressing your loyalty at the 
polls ; having failed in this infamous attempt to deprive you of the exercise of 
your dearest rights, they now seek to inaugurate a reign of teiTor, and thus force 



286 GEORGE BRINTON McCLELLAK. 

you to yield to their schemes, and submit to the yoke of their traitorous con- 
spiracy Government has heretofore carefully abstained from sending troops 

across the Ohio, or even from posting them along its banks, although frequently 
urged by many of your prominent citizens to do so. It determined to await the 
result of the late election, desirous that no one might be able to say that the 
slightest effort had been made from this side to influence the free expression of 

your opinion I have ordered troops to cross the river. They come as your 

friends and your brothers — as enemies only to the armed rebels who are preying 

upon you All your rights shall be religiously respected." To his soldiers 

he said : " I place under the safeguard of your honor the persons and property 
of the Virginians. I know that you will respect their feelings and all their 
rights. Preserve the strictest discipline : remember that each one of you holds 
in his keeping the honor of Ohio and of the Union." 

On June 2d, the Union troops at Grafton went forward to Philippi, on the 
Monongahela, twenty miles south of Grafton, which they reached at daylight on 
the next day, and attacked and drove out a body of rebels under Colonel Porter- 
field. Here they were joined, June 20th, by General McClellan, who on that 
day assumed command in person of the national forces in "Western Virginia, and 
began more extensive operations against the enemy. Meantime the rebels made 
active preparations to resist. Henry A. Wise, formerly governor of Virginia, but 
appointed a general in the rebel anmy, took the field in the Kanawha region of 
Western Virginia, and, with the iisual affectation of patriotism, called -upon the 
people to " come to the defence of the commonwealth invaded and insulted by a 
ruthless and unnatural enemy ;" while General Garnett, foi-merly of the United 
States army, occupied Laurel Hill and Eich Mountain, spurs of the Alleghany 
range, with ten thousand men. 

General Cox was sent against Wise, and General McClellan advanced in 
person against Garnett. Beverly, in Eandolph county, Virginia, is approached 
on the north by a road from Philippi, and on the west by a road from Buck- 
hannon. Laurel Hill is upon the. former road, and Eich Mountain upon the 
latter ; and both roads, at the point where they cross the lulls, were obstructed by 
Garnett's intrenchments. Garnett himself, with six thousand men, was at Laurel 
Hill, supposing doubtless that, as that point was nearest to Philippi, the attack 
would be made there. But General McClellan marched from Clarksburg, on the 
North-western Virginia Eailroad, advanced directly toward Beverly by the Buck- 
hannon road, and thus came upon the position at Eich Mountain. Colonel Pe- 
gram, Garnett's subordinate, held that place with four thousand men. At the 
foot of the hill, on the western slope, was a very strong work built of trees 
felled from the hill-side, filled in vnth earth, and furnished with artillery. Dense 
woods encircled it for a mile in every direction, and it could not have been 



GEORGE BRINTON McCLELLAN. 287 

carried from the front witlaout great loss. On the top of the mountain was a 
smaller work, with two six-pounders. A sharp skirmish took place in front of 
the lower fort, July 10th ; and on the 11th, at daylight. General Eosecrans, with 
four regiments, was sent around the southern slope of the mountain, to cany the 
small work above, and take the larger one in the rear. After an arduous march 
of eight miles, he -reached the summit and carried the work, with but small loss. 
Meanwhile, General McClellan below had cut a road through the wood which 
surrounded the rebel battery, and had arranged a position for twelve guns, with 
which to particiiDate in the attack to be made from above ; but as soon as the 
rebels in the lower fort learned that the fort on the hill-top was taken, they aban- 
doned their work, and fled in every direction. By this action the rebels lost six 
brass cannon, two hundred tents, sixty wagons, one hundred and fifty men in 
killed and wounded, and one hundred prisoners?. Only six hundred men of the 
enemy retained any organization, and with these Colonel Pegram retreated toward 
Laurel Hill. General McClellan, by a rapid march, occupied Beverly. 

Garnett, as soon as he learned of Pegram's rout at Eich Mountain, aban- 
doned his intrenchments at Laui-el Hill, and i-etreated toward Beverly ; but the 
rapid occupation of that place by General McClellan cut off his retreat in that 
direction, and in great confusion he turned back and retreated toward St. George, 
in Tucker county, to the north-east of Laurel Hill. Thus ten thousand rebel 
troops from Eastern Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina, were 
driven out of their intrenchments, with a loss to the Union forces of only eleven 
men killed and thirty-five wounded. On the 13th, Colonel Pegram surrendered 
what was left of his command (six hundred officers and men) jDrisoners, uncondi- 
tionally. 

Immediately upon the retreat of Garnett toward St. George, General Morris 
was oi-dered to follow him, and General Hill was ordered forward from Eawles- 
burg to intercept his retreat. General Garnett, finding himself pressed veiy 
closely by the brigade of General Morris, made a stand in an advantageous posi- 
tion at Carrick's Ford, on the Cheat Eiver, eight miles south of St. George. 
There he was handsomely beaten by the seventh and ninth Indiana and the 
fourteenth Ohio regiments. General Garnett was killed, his array disorganizfed, 
and its whole baggage taken. Thus, by a series of brilliant movements, and in 
only twenty-four days after General McClellan had assumed the command, this 
portion of Western Virginia was freed, and the army that lately held it became 
a demoralized band of fugitives. In recognition of this first considerable success 
of the war, both houses of Congress, on June 16th, passed a joint resolution of 
thanks to General McClellan and the officers and soldiers under his command. 

In an address to the "Soldiers of the Army of the West," dated subse- 
quently to these battles, General McClellan said : " You have annihilated two 



288 GEORGE BRINTON McCLELLAN. 

amiies, commanded by educated and experienced soldiers, intrenched in moun- 
tain fastnesses, and fortified at their leisure. You have taken five guns, twelve 
colors, fifteen hundred stand of anns, and one thousand prisoners, including more 
than forty officers. One of the second commanders of the rebels is a prisoner, 
the other lost his life on the' field of battle. You have killed more than two 
hundred and fifty of the enemy, who has lost all his baggage and camp-equipage. 
All this has been accomplished with the loss of twenty brave men killed and 
sixty wounded on your part. You have proved that Union men, fighting for 
the preservation of our -government, are more than a match for our misguided 
brothers. Soldiers ! I have confidence in you, and I trust that you have learned 
to confide in me. Eemember that discipline and subordination are qualities of 
equal value with courage." ' 

Three days after the above order was issued, the national army that had 
been organized near Washington, under the eye of the veteran commander-in- 
chief, was defeated in the disastrous battle at Bull Eun, and returned to the bank 
of the Potomac in a wild, disordered rout. Startled by this blow, the govern- 
ment first awoke to the great labor to be accomplished in putting down the 
rebellion. Eegiments before refused, and all now oflered, were immediately 
accepted, and it was determined to add at least one hundred thousand men to 
the Potomac army. General McClellan was ordered to Washington, to take 
command of this new force, and of the departments of Washington and North- 
eastern Virginia. He left Beverly June 23d, and arrived at the capital July 
25th. His first order to the army was dated July 30th. In that he described 
the first practice he had observed " eminently prejudicial to good order and mili- 
tary discipline," and plainly declared that "it must be discontinued." OflScers 
and soldiers were therefore strictly forbidden to leave their camps and quarters, 
except on important public business, and then not without written permission 
from the commander of the brigade to which they belonged. Washington was 
thus cleared of an arniy of loungers ; and of&cers and soldiers, confined to their 
camps, found time to learn their respective duties. 

On'August 3d, General McClellan's appointment as a major-general in the 
United States army was confirmed by the Senate ; and on August 20th, by gen- 
eral order, he assumed command of the army of the Potomac, and announced 
the officers of his staff. Lieutenant-General Scott was retired from active service 
November 1st, 1861, and on the same day General McClellan was appointed to 
succeed him as commander-in-chief of the armies of the United States. Both 
before and after this accession of authority, he labored without intennission, and 
with noble earnestness and simple purpose, to prepare for a proper discharge of 
its duties to the great army called out by the government. His many judicious 
orders in regulation of the actions of officers and soldiers, and the system of 



GEORGE BRINTOX McCLELLAN. 289 

frequent reviews that he introduced, rendered it necessary that all should work 
to keep up with him, and gave some unityto the army. 

After the retu'ement of the Lieutenant-General, the whole military operations 
of the country came under the control of General McClellan ; and, though it is 
not now possible to say how great a share we owe to him of the successes that 
crowned our arms in the beginning of the spring of 1862, yet by the admissions 
of the general officers most conspicuous in those actions it appears that they are 
all parts of one extensive plan of his arrangement. On March eleventh, General 
McClellan took the field for active operations at the head of the army of the 
Potomac, and by the special order of the President was relieved from the com- 
mand of the other departments. 

His attention was now given wholly to one object — the capture of Eichmond, 
which would lead, it was supposed, to the evacuation of Virginia — and to our 
army, that of the Potomac ; so that henceforth the history of this army becomes 
the history of General McClellan. To attain the principal object of the campaign 
of 1862, General McClellan detei-mined, with the President's apjjroval, to trans- 
port his troops to the peninsula stretching between the James and York Elvers 
in Virginia, and assuming Fort Monroe as the first base, take up the line of 
Yorktown and West-Point upon Eichmond as the line of operations, " Eichmond 
Ijeing the objective point." It was also decided to secure the cooperation of the 
navy, which, by controlling the two rivers, would protect the flanks of the army 
and provide necessary transportation. In pursuance of this plan, the main body 
of the army was moved back, on the fifteenth of March, to the vicinity of Alex- 
andria to be embarked. As rapidly as transports could be supplied, the different 
divisions embarked, followed, on the first of April, by General McClellan himself 
in the steamer Commodore. On reaching Fort Monroe on the following day, 
steps were immediately taken for the advance upon the rebel capital, and on the 
fourth and fifth of April the army took up its line of march for Eichmond. To 
give a detailed account of the progress of the Federal trooj^s would be foreign to 
our purpose, and more than our limited space wiU. admit. Suffice it to say, there- 
fore, that after a protracted siege of nearly a month, the "historic field " of York- 
town, where the rebels were strongly intrenched, fell into the hands of the Union 
forces, having been abandoned by the enemy on the night of the second of May. 
This was followed by the battle and occupation of Williamsburgh three days 
afterward, the occupation of West-Point on the York Eiver, and of White House 
on the Pamunkey. The gradual advance of the army toward Eichmond, and the 
strategical skill evinced by its commander, induced the House of Eepresentatives, 
on the ninth of May, to adopt resolutions expressive of its thanks to General 
McClellan for "the display of those high military qualities which secure import- 
ant results with but little sacrifice of life." On the seventeenth of May, the 



290 GEORGE BRINTON McGLELLAN. 

advance-guard of McClellan's ai'my reached the Chickahominy Eiver, at Bot- 
tom's Bridge, about fifteen miles from Richmond. The river was crossed dur- 
ing the latter part of the month, and was the signal for desperate efforts ou 
the part of the rebels to drive them from the field. The almost constant suc- 
cession of battles, the ravages of sickness, and the overwhelming uumbere of the 
enemy at length led General McClellan to leave the line of the Chickahominy 
and establish a new base on the James, in order, as he said, " to save the material 
and personel of the army." Accordingly, on the twenty-seventh of June, White 
House was evacuated, and the Union army commenced its retreat, in the course 
of which it passed through the memorable and bloody battles of the " Seven 
Days' Contest," repelling the jiursuiug foe in every assault, and reaching Har- 
rison's Bar on the James, in safety, on the second of ^uly. This position was 
held until the eleventh of August, when the evacuation, ordered in consequence 
of the rebel advance in the direction of Washington, began, and was comj^leted 
on the sixteenth. On the twenty-fourth of July, the army reached Acquia Creek, 
and immediately joined the army of Virginia, under General Pope, for the pur- 
pose of driving back the rebel invaders. Thus finished the Peninsula campaign. 
It being reported that the rebel army was moving up the Shenandoah Val- 
ley, and Washington being deemed in danger, General McClellan, on his return 
fi-om the Peninsula, was appointed, on the first of September, to the command of 
the fortifications at Washington, his jurisdiction being limited to the works and 
their garrisons. On the seventh. General McClellan left the capital to take com- 
mand of the army in person, leaving General Banks in charge at Washington 
during his absence. The demoralizing effects of the disastrous campaign under 
Pope, which followed the return of the army from the Peninsula, were soon coun- 
teracted by the thorough reorganization effected by General McClellan ; the 
troops were again confident and anxious, under their old leader, to meet the foe. 
The mass of the rebel army under General Lee, had by this time passed up the 
south side of the Potomac in the direction of Leesburgh, a portion having crossed 
into Maryland. General McClellan started immediately but cautiously in pursuit, 
following the north bank of the Potomac. On the fourteenth of September, the 
rebel army was attacked at South-Mountain, in Maryland, where Lee had massed 
his forces. A severe battle, lasting all day, resulted in the defeat of the rebels, 
who abandoned the field during the night, retreating toward the river. General 
McClellan speedily followed their receding columns, and on the seventeenth 
fought his last battle as commander of the army of the Potomac, on the banks 
of Autietam Creek. This bloody struggle, which lasted from dawn till dark, 
must be regarded in some respects as indecisive, though the rebel loss far exceeded 
that of the Union forces. While General McClellan was deliberating what course 
to pursue, General Lee recrossed the Potomac on the night of the eighteentk 



GEORGE BRINTON McCLELLAN. 291 

The Federal cavalry being in a disabled condition and inadequate to a pursuit, 
the commanding general deemed it best to retain the bulk of the army at Antie- 
tam. On the sixth of October, he received orders from President Lincoln to 
cross the river and follow General Lee. Owing to the deficiency in cavalry and 
the necessary supplies for the men, this oi'der remained imexecuted till the last 
week of the month. While near Warrenton, in Virginia, disposing his forces for 
the campaign. General McClellan received, on the night of the seventh of Novem- 
ber, an order relieving him from the command of the army of the Potomac, and 
directing him to turn it over to General Burnside. 

Before leaving the position he had occupied so long, and the men with whom 
he had engaged in so many hard-fought battles, General McClellan issued a fare- 
well address, expressive of the love and gratitude he bore toward his troops, and 
telling them, in substance, that though he now parted from them officially, he 
was still bound to them by an indissoluble tie, and by the strongest associations 
which can exist among men — the warm sympathies and glowing memories of 
companions in arms. 



DAYID HUI^TEE. 

MAJOE-GENERAL HUNTER was bom in the District of Columbia, and 
entered as a cadet at West-Point in 1818, wliere be graduated in 1822, and 
was made Second Lieutenant of the Fifth infantry on the first of Julj^ 

In 1828, he was appointed a First Lieutenant, and two years after a Captain 
of the First dragoons. On the fourth of July, 1836, he resigned, but on Novem- 
ber thirtieth, 18-11, returned to the army as temporary paymaster. The next 
year he was made full jjaymaster. 

At the commencement of the rebellion he was, on the fourteenth of May, 
appointed Colonel of the Sixth regiment of cavalry ; and, at the battle of Bull 
Run, as a Brigadier-General, commanded the Second division, under General 
McDowell. 

This division marched to the battle-field by the Leesburgh and Centreville 
road, and thence by the Warrenton pike to Bull Run, where it took position at 
Sudley's S^jrings. The fight commenced on July twenty-first, and Hunter's divi- 
sion soon entered into the thick of the engagement, but, unfortunately, he was 
wounded early in the action, and had to be can-ied fi'om the field. 

On the thirteenth of August, Hunter was made a Major-General, and, in the 
following month, took command of the forces at Rolla, Missouri, as second to 
General Fremont. On the fifth of November, General Hunter, as the oldest offi.- 
cer on the field, assumed temporary command of the whole Federal army, Gene- 
ral Fremont having been removed ; and one of his first acts was to express disap- 
proval of the agreement made between Fremont and Price. General Hunter had 
occupied Springfield, but on the ninth of November abandoned it and moved 
toward Rolla, there to await the orders of Major-General Halleck, who had been 
appointed to command the Western department, and who ari'ived at St. Louis on 
the eighteenth. 

General Hunter was now appointed to the military division of Kansas, 
where, on the eleventh of February, 1862, he proclaimed martial law. While in 
this department he materially aided in the military operations then carried on 
under General Halleck, who wrote to him as follows : 

"To you, more than any other man out of this department, are we indebted 
for our success at Fort Donelson. In my strait for troops to reenforce General 





W'^^^^^ 



MAJraEN. DA\^D HTTNTER. 



DAVID HUNTER. 293 

Grant I applied to jou. You responded noblj', by placing your foi'ces at my dis- 
posal. This enabled uie to win the victory. Eeceive my most heartfelt thanks.'' 

On the eleventh of March, General Hiinter's department was consolidated 
with that of Halleck's, and, accordingly, he was relieved, but was immediately 
appointed to the department of the South. lie arrived at Port Royal, S. C, at 
the end of the month, and issued an order assuming command, and also one of 
thanks to his predecessor, Brigadier-General Sherman, for valuable services and 
information rendered. 

On the tenth of April, General Hunter demanded the surrender of Fort Pu- 
laski from the rebels, and on receiving a negative reply from Colonel Olmstead, 
the commander, he directed an attack to be made, under the immediate su})er- 
vision of Brigadier-General Gillmore. Fire was opened upon the Fort, the bom- 
bardment continuing without intermission for thirty hours. At the end of eigh- 
teen hours' firing the Fort was breached in the south-east angle, and at the 
moment of surrender, at two P.M. of the eleventh, preparations had been com- 
menced for storming. In his report. General Hunter gives great praise to the 
various officers directing the several movements, and he expresses an opinion that 
" the result of the bombardment must cause a change in the construction of forti- 
fications, for no works of stone or brick can resist the impact of rifled artillery of 
heavy calibre." 

On the ninth of May, he issued an order stating that the States of South- 
Carolina, Georgia, and Florida were, on and from the twenty-fifth April preced- 
ing, under martial law, and added : " Slavery and martial law in a fi-ee country 
are altogether incompatible. The persons in these States heretofore held as 
slaves are, therefore, declared for ever free." The President, however, disavowed 
this, on the ground that compensation should attend emancipation. But HunterV 
order elicited the sentiments of many people on the subject, and with regard tc 
the policy of the Government. 

This induced General Hunter to resign his command, but in a short time 
afterward he was reappointed to the same department. On the second of June, he 
left Hilton Head to accompany the expedition against James Island, as planned hj 
General Benham, but he returned in a short time. 

During the period of General Hunter's stay in command of the South, there 
was not much done in the way of active operations, owing to the small force at his 
disposal. 

On the twenty-third of April, 1863, Hunter wi-ote to Jeff'erson Davis with 
reference to colored prisoners, and threatened retaliation if they were harshly 
or unjustifiably treated. In May, he addressed the Governor of Massachu- 
setts, and bore testimony to the general good conduct of the negro troops. 
He had previously caused the able-bodied negroes from the neighboring planta- 



294 DAVID HUNTER. 

tions to be formed into regiments and drilled by competent officers, and he now 
concluded that they could be made excellent soldiers. 

On the twelfth of June, 1863, General Hunter was relieved from his com- 
mand, and on the fourteenth of November was sent on a tour of inspection through 
the military district of the Mississippi. 

On the twentieth of May, 1864, he was appointed to relieve Sigel in com- 
mand of "West- Virginia, and on the twenty-second arrived at Cumberland, taking 
up his headquarters in the field. Immediately afterward he issued an imperative 
order in relation to derelict officers of guards and outposts. The occasion of this 
was, a cavalry officer on picket-duty had allowed himself to be surprised by the 
enemy and his command captured. This officer General Hunter discharged from 
the service, and then publicly announced his intention to show no leniency to 
future offenders, for " any act of mercy in such cases would be a crirne against the 
whole command put in jeopardy by their negligence or inefficiency." On the 
other hand, he said that ' ' all who faithfully did their duty should be promptly 
recognized and rewarded." This order was soon followed by another, giving di- 
rections for all superfluous baggage and material to be sent back to Martins- 
burgh, and the whole army under his command to be kept in such an efficient 
state that prompt and energetic movements could be made. Strict discipline 
would be enforced, and all brigade and other commanders would be held responsi- 
ble for any negligence or disregard in this respect. 

On the first of June the enemy made an attempt to check the advance of 
Hunter's army, but were repulsed, and our forces marched on to Harrisonburgh, 
which was occupied without any difficulty. On leaving Harrisonburgh, Hunter 
divided his men into two columns, one taking the direct road to Staunton, and 
the other to Port Eepublic. This latter there encountered the enemy, who were 
driven back, while the first or right column of the aiTay got into an engagement 
near Mount Crawford with the rebels under General Jones. The fight occurred 
on the fifth of June, and resulted in complete success to the Union cause. Jones 
was killed, and Hunter's victory was so complete that, after capturing twenty 
guns, several prisoners, and a large quantity of stores, he was able, without opj)0- 
sition, to enter Staunton, which had been hastily evacuated at his approach. At 
the same time he effected a junction with Generals Crook and Averill. 

From Staunton Hunter proceeded to Lexington, driving before him a large 
rebel force of cavalry, and thence taking the route to Lynchburgh by way of Bu- 
chanan. On the seventeenth of June, the enemy made a stand at about four 
miles from Lynchburgh, but after a fight of three or four hours were forced to 
continue their retreat. The next day, General Hunter heard of the enemy having 
been heavily reenforced from Richmond, and finding himself running short 
of ammunition, with a scarcity of supplies, it was determined in a council of 



DAVID HUNTER. 295 

war to retreat. Accordingly, lie moved back to Salem via Liberty. At botli 
places the enemy, in force, attacked him, but were repulsed, and this, too, under 
difficulties that most sevei'ely tried both officers and men. Want of food, added 
to a march over wild and abrupt mountains, and through dangerous passes with 
forest-clad steeps of gi-eat height on either side, taxed the forbearance of all to the 
utmost limits. Still General Hunter contrived to keep his ai-my together until 
reaching Meadow's Bluff, where more than a million rations had been left by Crook 
and Averill a few days previous, under charge of two Ohio militia regiments. 
Great was the disappointment on finding these militiamen had been driven away 
by guerrillas, and had taken some of the provisions with them to Loup Creek. 
Thither General Hunter's forces followed, and at Gauley Bridge was met by the 
supply-trains he had ordered. Thence, in advance of his command, he reached 
Parkersburgh, and there, for the first time, heard of the rebel raid into Maryland. 
Immediately he labored hard to reequip and hurry forward his troops, but the rail- 
way had b^en greatly damaged by the rebels, and the Ohio had not over two feet 
of water-depth in it. This greatly impeded the sending on his men in time ; 
nevertheless, by great exertions, he managed to despatch ten thousand of them 
before the sixteenth July. 

Meanwhile, however, the War Office had given orders for all his available 
troops to report to Major-General Wright, and, deeming this virtually a censure 
upon him, he has now demanded to be relieved of his command, though still 
actively engaged in directing his forces against the enemy. 



— «''5^^S^^2t^=i-' 



GEOEGE STOITEMAN. 

MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE STONEMAN was born at Busti, Chautauque 
County, New- York, August eighth, 1822. His father was a respectable 
farmer, and one of the earliest settlers in the "Western part of the State, to which 
he removed just after the war of 1812. The son entered West-Point at the age 
of twenty, and was graduated in 1846, standing thirty-third in a class of fifty- 
nine. McClellan, Stonewall Jackson, Foster, Reno, and Couch were his class- 
mates, and Stonewall Jackson was his room-mate. 

On leaving West-Point, Stoneman was attached to the First dragoons, then 
commanded by the gallant Stephen Watts Kearny, and ordered at once to join 
his company at Fort Leavenworth. He was put in charge of the first wagon- 
train sent from that post to Santa F6, over what was then called the " Santa Fc 
trail." The animals nearly all gave out for want of grass and water, and Lieu- 
tenant Stoneman determined to go on ahead to Santa Fe and procure fresh ones. 
Taking with hiui one man, he made the journey of two hundred and sixty miles 
through a country inhabited by hostile Indians and still more hostile Mexicans, 
in four days ; obtained the animals, returned to his companions, and brought 
the train through in safety. By this time, however, his dragoon company had 
started for California with General Kearny, and he was ordered to accompany the 
Mormon battalion, as Quartermaster, in their celebrated march from Nauvoo 
through Santa Fe to California. As soon as they reached their destination, in 
January, 1847, Lieutenant Stoneman joined his company at San Diego, and for 
the next six years was constantly with it, patrolling various parts of the Pacific 
territories, punishing hostile Indians, surveying and ojDening roads, escorting ex- 
ploring parties, etc. 

In 1854, he travelled through Mexico and the West-Indies. The same year 
he was promoted to be First Lieutenant. Returning to California in January, 
1855, he became aid-de camp to Major-General Wool, then commanding the De- 
partment of the Pacific, but he did not retain that position long, for having been 
appointed Captain in the Second dragoons, he joined his regiment, then com- 
manded by Albert Sidney Johnston, at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, in Septem- 
ber of the same year. The regiment set out for Texas in November, and from 
that time iintil the rebellion of 1861, except for about a year and a half, during 




Gen. GEORGE STONEMAN. 



GEORGE STO NEMAN. * 297 

wliieli lie travelled in Europe, Captain Stoneman was actively employed in Texas 
and New-Mexico. 

He was the first to inform General Scott of General Twiggs's treasonable in- 
tentions, and when the Texan commissioners ' came to him with an order from 
General Twiggs to turn over to the State authorities all the property iinder his 
control, he peremptorily refused to obey. He was in command of Fort Brown 
when orders were issued for the withdrawal of all the United States troops fi'om 
the State. Foreseeing that he would have difficulty in getting away if he waited 
for Government transports, he chartered a steamer to convey his command to 
New-York. 

In June, he was promoted to be Major in the Fourth cavalry. He served in 
Western Virginia, as Acting Inspector-General, on the statf of General McClellan, 
and accompanied his chief to the army of the Potomac after the first battle of 
Bull Run. In August, he was appointed Brigadier-General of volunteers and 
Chief of cavalry. His duties fi-om that time until after the evacuation of York- 
town were chiefly connected with the organization of his arm of the service. He 
began the battle of Williamsburgh, and led the pursuit of the retreating enemy 
with a force of cavalry, infantry, and flying-artillery, pushing them within five 
miles of Eichmond. During the camjjaign on the Chickahominy his troops were 
posted on the extreme right flank as a corps of observation. Cut ofi" from the 
main body at the battle of Gaines's Mill, he first pushed his command to the 
White House, in order to assist in the evacuation of that ddpot, and then pro- 
ceeded with all the animals and wagons to Yorktown and Fortress Monroe, re- 
joining McClellan at Harrison's Landing by way of James River. 

During General Pope's Virginia campaign the cavalry was distributed among 
the different corps, and General Stoneman, after the death of Kearny, took com- 
mand of that ofiicer's division in Heintzelman's arm}^ corps. He succeeded to 
the command of the Third corps when Heintzelman was placed in charge of the 
defences of Washington. After the battle of Antietam, we find him in command 
of a division temporarily attached to the Ninth corps, but he was soon once more 
at the head of the cavalry of the army of the Potomac, and at the time of Gene- 
ral Hooker's attack upon Chancellorsville, in May, 1863, distinguished himself 
by a daring and successful raid in the rear of Lee's army. Crossing the Up- 
per Rappahannock, far to the right of Hooker, he divided his force into three 
columns, one of which under Buford marched toward Gordonsville, another 
under Averill to Culpeper, while Stoneman himself, with the third, moved 
straight toward Richmond. He penetrated within the intrenchments of the rebel 
capital, and there detached Colonel Kilpatrick with a few troopers, who pro- 
ceeded down the Peninsula to Gloucester Point. The main body having ridden 
entireh' around the rebel army, destroying bridges, railroads, locomotives, forges, 



298 



GEORGE STONEMAN. 



mills, and factories, together with vast quantities of grain, stores, and ammuni- 
tion, and capturing over five hundred prisoners, recrossed the Rappahannock at 
Kelly's Ford, and rejoined Hooker on the eighth of May, after an absence of 
about five days. His loss was very slight. 

On the organization of the Cavalry Bureau at Washington in the latter part 
of July, 1863, General Stoneman was placed in charge of it ; but before the open- 
ing of the next campaign he was again ordered to the field, and assigned com- 
mand of a corps under General Sherman. 




^Tig^iy- tieo 2 pcrine 



BRIG. GEN. ROSF.CRA'NS. U.S.A. 



WILLIAM STAEKE EOSEOHAlSrS. 

WILLIAM STAEKE EOSECRANS was born in Kingston, Delaware 
county, Ohio, December 6th, 1819. His father emigrated to Ohio from 
the Wyoming valley, in 1808. His mother, Jemima Hopkins, was the daughter 
of a Eevolutionary soldier. His early life was passed in close application to 
study, and in his eighteenth j^ear he entei-ed the United States military academy 
at West Point ; whence he graduated, third in mathematics and fifth in general 
merit, in 18-42. He received the brevet of second-lieutenant of engiueerg, July 
1st ; served that year at Fortress Monroe as first assistant-engineer, imder com- 
mand of Lieutenant-Colonel E. E. De Eussey ; and was ordered to duty at West 
Point, in September, 1843, as assistant professor of engineering. From August, 
1844, untn August, 1845, he served as assistant professor of natural and experi- 
mental philosophy at the military academy, and in 1845, '46, and '47, in the engi- 
neering department as assistant and first assistant pi'ofessor. He also served as 
post-quartermaster at West Point for some months. 

In 184:7, Lieutenant Eosecrans was assigned to duty at Newport, Rhode 
Island, to reconstruct the large military wharves destroyed by a storm — an 
appointment regarded as an ofiicial recognition of his great ability as an en- 
gineer. Here he remained until 1852, when he was charged with the survey 
(made under act of Congress) of New-Bedford harbor, Taunton Eiver, and Provi- 
dence harbor. From April till November, 1853, he served as constructing engi- 
neer at the Washington navy-yard, when, on account of ill health, he tendered 
his resignation to the secretary of war, Jefferson Davis. His resignation was not 
accepted ; but he was given leave of absence, with the understanding that if, 
iipon the expiration of the leave, the resignation was insisted upon, it would be 
accepted. In April, 1854, therefore. Lieutenant Eosecrans again tendered his 
resignation, and retired from the service. 

For the next year he occupied an office in Cincinnati, as consulting engineer 
and architect ; and in June, 1855, became president of the Canal-Coal Company, 
and superintended its work on Coal Eiver, Virginia, where it was engaged in the 
construction of locks and dams, and in the endeavor to effect slack-water navi- 
gation. This position he relinquished to assume control of the business of the 
Cincinnati Coal- Oil Company, in which he was directly interested. 



300 WILLIAM STARKE ROSECEANS. 

"Wlien General McClellan was placed at tlie liead of the Oliio volunteers, lie 
appointed Eosecrans acting chief engineer, ■with the rank of major ; and the legis- 
lature of Ohioeoon after created, purposely for him, and with the rank of colonel, 
the office of chief engineer of the state. Governor Dennison appointed him, June 
10th, colonel of the twenty-third regiment Ohio volunteers, and in that capacity 
he went to "Washington, and arranged for the payment and maintenance of the 
troops from his state. 

Colonel Eosecrans was appointed a brigadier-general of the United States 
arm}^, June 20th, 1861. Placed at the head of a brigade, composed of the eighth 
and tenth Indiana and the seventeenth and nineteenth Ohio regiments, he parti- 
cipated in the earliest advance into "Western "\^irginia; was in command at Par- 
kersburg ; proceeded thence to Grafton, and by Buckhannon, with the other part 
of McClellan's force to Eich Mountain, where a portion of the rebel General 
Garnett's force, variously stated at two and four thousand, and commanded by 
Colonel Pegi-am, were intrenched at the foot of the hill, on the western slope. 
Before this position some of General Eosecrans's men had a sharp skii-mish with 
the enemy on the 10th of July, and it was then discovered that their work at the 
foot of the hill was a very strong one, and was in a position well chosen for 
defence ; it was also learned that they had a much less considerable work on the 
summit of the hill. It was therefore arranged that, while General McClellan 
made his preparations to attack the larger work in front. General Eosecrans with 
his brigade should reach the rear of the rebels, carry their work on the summit 
of the hill, and participate from that side in the attack on the main fort. 

In pursuance of this plan. General Eosecrans left his camp at Eoaring Eun, 
two miles west of Eich Mountain, at daylight on July 11th, and advanced by a 
pathless route through the woods along the south-western slope of the mountain. 
Compelled very often to cut the way, and even to build a road for the artillery, 
their progress was necessarily slow. Much rain had previously fallen, and the 
bushes were still very wet ; this, with the cold, and the toilsome march, made 
the service an unusually severe one. Yet they pressed on, silently and reso- 
lutely, and, after a circuit of eight miles, reached a point on the road in the 
enemy's rear, at three p. m. Although this movement had been projected as a 
surprise, the enemy was aware of it, and prepared: yet, after a hard fight of 
three quarters of an hour, he was driven out, and his position taken. 

This success decided the fortunes of the rebels at Eich Mountain ; for those 
in the work at the foot of the mountain abandoned their position in the night, 
and retreated to Laurel Hill. Nearly all the killed and wounded of the Union 
men at this place were in General Eosecrans's brigade. General McClellan imme- 
diately pushed on to Beverly, to cut oif the retreat of the force at Laurel Hill ; 
while General Eosecrans, passed on the road, followed at leisure: and other 



WILLIAM STARKE ROSECRANS. 301 

portions of ilcClellan's command went toward Laurel Hill, and followed the 
retreat of Garnett to Carrick's Ford. 

Immediately after the destruction of the rebel force at Eicli Mountain and 
Laurel Ilill, General McClellan began to make active preparations to co-operate 
with General Cox, on tha Kanawha, against the rebels under Wise; but the 
preparations were delayed by news of the national defeat at Bull Eun. McClel- 
lan was ordered to Washington ; and his army, then at Beverly, was counter- 
marched to Webster, a few miles south of Grafton, where he left it, July 28d, 
and the command of the dei^artment of the Ohio devolved upon General Rose- 
crans. 

Preparations for the campaign on the Kanawha were continued, but they 
were now retarded by the necessity for the reorganization of the army, which 
was composed in a great degree of men enlisted for three months. Meantime, 
head-quarters were established at Clarksburg ; and from that place, on August 
20th, General Rosecrans issued an address to the loyal inhabitants of Western 
Virginia. " Contrary to your interests and j'our wishes," he said, the Confedei'- 

ates " have brought war upon your soil Between submission to them, and 

subjugation or expulsion, they leave you no alternative. They have set neigh- 
bor against neighbor, and friend against friend ; they have introduced among 
you warfare only known among savages. In violation of the laws of nations 
and humanity, they have proclaimed that private citizens may and ought to 
make war. Under this bloody code, peaceful citizens, unarmed travellers, and 
single soldiers, have been shot down, and even the wounded and defenceless 
have been killed ; scalping their victims is all that is wanting to make their war- 
fare like' that which, seventy or eighty years ago, was waged by the Indians 
against the white race on this very ground. You have no alternative left you 
but to unite as one man in the defence of your homes, for the restoration of law 
and order, or be subjugated, or expelled from the soil. I therefore earnestly 
exhort you to take the most prompt and vigorous measures to put a stop to 

neighborhood and private wars Citizens of Western Yirginia, your fate is 

mainly in your own hands. If you allow yourselves to be trampled under foot 
by hordes of disturbers, plunderers, and murderers, your land will become a 
desolation. If you stand firm for law and order, and maintain your rights, you 
may dwell together peacefully and happily as in former days." 

General Rosecrans marched from Clarksburg, August 31st, and once more 
put himself at the head of his army for active operations. On the 10th of Sep- 
tember, he reached the rebel intrenchments in front of Carnifex Ferry, and, after 
a slight skirmish, succeeded in routing General Floyd, and capturing "a few 
prisoners, two stand of colors, a considerable quantity of arms," together with 
some military stoi'es. 



302 WILLIAM STARKE ROSECRANS. 

Soon after this action, lie established his headquarters at Wheeling, and com- 
menced preparations for the campaign that was to be opened in the following 
spring ; but in March, 1862, on the creation of the " Mountain Department," and 
the appointment of General Fremont to its command. General Eosecrans was re- 
lieved from duty in Western Virginia, and repaired* to Washington, preparatory 
to entering the field at the West. 

After the evacuation of Corinth by the rebels, he was appointed to the com- 
mand of the army of the Mississippi, and during the summer, with his headquar- 
ters at Corinth, he employed his troops in strongly fortifying that place. But in 
the fall he began more active ojierations, and moved upon the rebel forces, under 
General Price, south of luka. It was just before dark, on the nineteenth of Sep- 
tember, that he attacked the enemy, and for nearly two hours had a sharp fight 
with them. The following day he renewed the fight, and compelled them to make 
a rapid retreat, losing one of their generals, besides two hundred and sixty-two 
officers and men killed, four hundred severely wounded, and six hundred taken 
prisoners. 

General Eosecrans now returned to Corinth, which was attacked on the third 
of October by the rebel General Earl Van Dorn. On the first day's fight our 
forces were driven from their line of defences into the town, but, on the following 
day, succeeded in repulsing the rebels and again taking possession of the works. 
It was here that General Eosecrans again displayed those abilities which ranked 
him as i brave and skilful commander. The defence made by his troops was 
most determined and obstinate ; and the after-attack upon the rebels was such as 
to cause their complete rout, and the loss of an immense number of ofiicers and 
men, besides leaving behind them more than two thousand prisoners^ fourteen 
stands of colors, two pieces of artillery, three thousand three hundred stand of 
small arms, and foi'ty-flve thousand rounds of ammunition, etc. The rebels were 
pursued for forty miles, and in such a way, under General Eosecrans's skilful 
direction, that they were intercepted at various points, losing more men, and hav- 
ing their array completely broken up. 

Soon after this. General Eosecrans was appointed a Major-General of volun- 
teers, his commission dating fi-om March twenty-first, 1862, and, on the twenty- 
sixth day of October, he was placed in command of the army of the Ohio, reliev- 
ing General Buell. His troops at this time were massed at Bowling Green and 
Glasgow, Ky., with their base of supplies at Louisville ; but, soon after assuming 
command, he marched on Nashville, and compelled the rebels to retire from their 
investment of that place. At this time, all the region of country south of the 
Kentucky line, and portions of North- Alabama and Georgia wherein the Union 
army could operate, was formed into the Dei^artment of the Cumberland, over 



WILLIAM STARKE ROSECRANS. 303 

which General Eosecrans was appointed commander. Here he soon had an op- 
portunity for meeting the enemy in full force. 

After the repulse at Nashville, the rebels fell back to Murfreesboro, where 
they were joined by more troops from -the Tennessee Valley and Chattanooga. 
These were placed under command of General Bragg, and, on the twenty-sixth of 
December, General Eosecrans advanced to meet him. On the thirtieth, after some 
heavy skirmishing by the way, "the Union forces reached the vicinity of Mur- 
freesboro, and took up line of battle. At daybreak the following morning, the 
fight began by an attack on the part of the rebels against our right wing, 
under General McCook. They succeeded in driving him back with some heavy 
loss in men and artillery. On the next day the battle was renewed without any 
success ; but, on the ensuing one, January second, 1863, after some very severe 
fighting, the rebels were defeated with terrific slaughter. In the afternoon they 
had attacked our left and forced it to cross to the west side of the Stone Eiver ; 
but there, a well-directed artillery fire, supported by infantry, met them, and, in 
forty minutes, inflicted a loss in then- ranks of two thousand killed and wounded. 
General Eosecrans now followed up the advantage. The foe was panic-stricken ; 
they turned and fled, and the victory was ours. 

On the fifth of January, 1863, General Eosecrans occupied Murfi-eesboro, and 
pursued the enemy toward Manchester, but the pursuit was given up, owing to 
the difiiculty of bringing up supplies and the bad state of the roads. 

Soon after this battle, a joint resolution of Congress was passed, giving thanks 
to General Eosecrans and the officers and men of his command for their gallantry 
and good conduct. 

After the battle of Murfreesboro the rebels took position at Shelbyville and 
Tullahoma, General Eosecrans keeping his men in good order, ready to attack 
them again directly a decisive blow could be successfully made. Several raids 
and skirmishes took place, and, on the third of February, an attack was made by 
the rebels on Fort Donelson, but they were repulsed. The rebels, however, 
holding all the mountain passes, were able to frequently harass our troops, and 
thus caused such obstacles in the way of moving foi"ward, that General Eosecrans 
deemed it the wisest course to remain in position until his communications and 
supplies were perfectly secure. This produced some dissatisfaction in the "War 
Department at Washington, and a correspondence ensued which was not alto- 
gether free from an unpleasant character. It was deemed injudicious so to delay, 
with our own army in good condition, and the enemy's known to be materially 
weakened by sending reenforcements against Grant at Vicksburgh. The Presi- 
dent wi'ote, saying : "I am very much grieved by your unaccountable delay. I am 
bound to believe that you, on the ground, are the best judge of what you can do ; 
but you see how vitally important movement is, and you give me no reasons that 



304 WILLIAM STARKE ROSECRANS. 

seem to me satisfactory." Secretary Stanton telegraplied to the effect tliat unless 
a speedy movement took place, the country could not justify his course. General 
Halleck also intimated that, with every kind wish toward him, it was certain that 
the reputation of both would be imperilled unless, in accordance with the exigen- 
cies of the service, a forward movement was immediately commenced. To all 
this. General Rosecrans answered, that he knew what the country needed, and 
what the army also required. Pie had never been in the habit of moving into a 
place until he could be sure of staying there ; and, if he was not competent to 
command the army, they could remove him ; but, while he did remain in com- 
mand, he must use his own discretion and move as soon as he got perfectly ready. 
The nature of this correspondence naturally caused a great deal of irritation, 
and General Rosecrans felt exceedingly annoyed, especially as, after having ad- 
dressed a circular letter to all his corps and cavahy generals, he received opinions 
in reply to certain queries he had put, that it was uncertain about the enemy's 
force being weakened ; that it was very doubtful if we could then fight a success- 
fid battle ; and that it would be most unwise to advance until the fate of Vicks- 
burgh was determined. 

At length, on the twelfth of June, General Rosecrans decided to move, 
though, as it is averred, against the wish of his leading generals, and on the 
twenty -third his army was in motion. He moved upon the enemy well intrenched 
at Tullahoma, covered in front by the defiles of Duck River — a deep, narrow 
stream, with few fords or bridges — and a rough, rocky range of hills which di- 
vides the barrens from the lower level of Middle Tennessee. Bragg's main force 
occupied a strong position north of Duck River from Shelbyville, which was forti- 
fied to Wartrace. General Rosecrans determined to make their intrenchments 
useless by turning their left, and thus compel them to fight on our own ground, 
or drive them in a disadvantageous line of retreat. By an admirably combined 
movement he deceived them as to his real plans. Apparently advancing in force 
upon Shelby\'ille, he sent the mass of his army on Manchester, and thus turned 
the right of the enemy's defence of Duck River. Bragg was now compelled to 
fall back on Tullahoma, hotly pursued by General Granger, who had brilliantly 
carried Shelbyville. Dispositions were immediately made to turn Tullahoma, and 
fall upon the enemy's rear ; but Bragg abandoned to us his intrenched camp, and 
rapidly fell back toward Bridgeport, Ala., pursued as far as practicable by the 
National forces. 

On the first of Jul}-, Tullahoma was occupied by a portion of our army, and 
thus ended a nine days' campaign, which drove the enemy from two fortified posi- 
tions, and gave us possession of Middle Tennessee. The operations of our forces, 
moreover, were conducted in one of the most extraordinary rainy seasons ever 
known in that part of the country, and over a soil that had become almost a 



WILLIAM STARKE ROSECRANS. 305 

quicksand. If it had not been for sucli severe weather, the enemy would not 
have escaped as they did. As it was, General Eosecrans so successfully, and in 
such a masterly manner, handled his heroic army, that much credit and praise 
were deser\-edly his due. 

After the expulsion of the rebels from Middle Tennessee, Bragg retreated 
upon Chattanooga, which he immediately fortified, and threw up defensive works 
at the crossing of the river as far up as Blythe's Ferry. Thither, on the sixteenth 
of August, General Eosecrans followed him, commencing his advance by crossing 
the Cumberland Mountains. To command and avail himself of the most import- 
ant passes, the front of his movement extended a distance of over one hiandred 
and fifty miles fi-om TVhitesburgh to Blythe's Ferry, and thus threatening the line 
of the Tennessee Eiver, which was reached on the twentieth of August, and 
Chattanooga shelled from the north bank on the following day. Pontoon, boat, 
raft, and trestle-bridges were immediately prepared, and the army, except cavalry, 
safely crossed the Tennessee in the face of the enemy. By the eighth of Septem- 
ber, General Thomas had moved on Trenton and the gaps on Lookout Mountain, 
and, with other movements of his army. General Eosecrans so completely deceived 
the enemy that Bragg again found himself turned, and immediately evacuated 
Chattanooga, which was peaceably taken possession of by a corps of our forces 
under General Crittenden. 

General Eosecrans now with the remainder of his army pressed forward 
through the difficult passes of the Lookout and Missionary mountains, apparently 
directing his march upon La Fayette and Eome. At this time General Burnside 
was in possession of all East-Tennessee above Chattanooga, and as it was sup- 
posed at the War Ofiice that Bragg had sent reenforcements to Lee on the Eap- 
idan, and fearing that General Eosecrans's anny might be drawn too far into the 
mountains of Georgia, where it could not be supplied, an order came to him to 
hold on where he was, after taking the passes west of Dalton. 

On the twelfth of September, General Eosecrans telegraphed that some in- 
dications were presented of the rebels intending to turn his flanks and cut off his 
communications, and that it would be advisable for General Burnside to move 
down toward Chattanooga, and General Grant to cover the Tennessee Eiver, so 
as to prevent any raid on Nashville. Therefore orders were sent to Generals 
Grant and Burnside to move forward and connect with General Eosecrans, and 
he himself received a telegram to that effect, with directions that his army should 
move to prevent Bragg reentering Middle Tennessee, Chattanooga being turned 
over to General Burnside on his arrival. 

On the fourteenth of September, General Eosecrans's army was in the passes 
of Pigeon Mountain, with the enemy concentrating his forces near La Fayette to 
dispute his farther advance. But our troops were so scattered that they extended 



o06 WILLIAM STARKE ROSECRANS. 

some forty or fifty miles, and not until the nineteenth were they sufficiently con- 
centrated to be in a position for preventing the enemy getting in advance toward 
Chattanooga. On the nineteenth, Bragg's forces, now strengthened by troops 
from Johnston and Longstreet's corps, were slightly ahead, but wei-e encountered 
at Chickamauga, where a general action soon took place. 

The accounts of this battle are somewhat conflicting, and have not been 
wholly free from reflections which the brilliant and masterly movements, added 
to the personal courage of the hero of Stone River, on other occasions dis^Dlajj^ed, 
seem to make almost unwarranted. The battle of Chickamauga, though giving 
fresh proofs of the heroism of our soldiers, and the high bravery of our generals 
and officers, was a defeat. General Rosecrans retreated into Chattanooga, but the 
enemy were kept in check from advancing by the determined courage of General 
Thomas, who, with Generals Granger and Gai-field, made a fierce stand against 
the foe, and in a swift and terrible charge, broke the enemy's ranks, thus enabling 
us to hold our position, and get the army within the line of defences aroxmd the 
city. 

After General Rosecrans's retreat to Chattanooga, he withdrew his forces 
from the passes of Lookout Mountain, and these were immediately occupied by 
the enemy, who also crossed the Tennessee higher up, and thus almost completely 
cut off the supplies for our army. But on the nineteenth of October, Major- 
General Grant having assumed command of the three departments of the Ten- 
nessee, Cumberland, and Ohio, now formed into one general command. General 
Rosecrans was relieved. 

The reasons given for this step, as published, need not be entered into here, 
more than to say that it was based upon alleged military mismanagement, and cer- 
tain matters in connection with his relations to Mr. Truesdale, whom he had made 
chief of the army police, and whose transactions in various speculations were con- 
sidered of a very ambiguous character. But, whatever the real cause of General 
Rosecrans's removal, he was not to be long without a command, for in January 
of the present year he was appointed to relieve General Schofield in the depart- 
ment of the Missouri. On the twenty-ninth of January, he was at St. Louis 
when the citizens gave a complimentary dinner to General Grant then on a visit 
there, and in reply to a toast in honor of the army and navy, expressed Ms firai 
conviction in the restoration of the Union. 

On assuming his command. General Rosecrans turned his attention to quiet- 
ing the State of Missouri by inducing the farmers to resume the cultivation of 
the soil, and in a general order he prohibited the exportation of slave labor ex- 
cept for military purposes. He also issued an order requiring^^ all church assem- 
blies, synods, conferences, etc., to subscribe to an oath of allegiance, in conse- 
quence of many ministers and preachers being disloyal in their sentiments. 




Gen. JOHN G FOSTER. 



JOHI^ G. FOSTEE. 

MAJOR-GENEEAL JOHN G. FOSTER was bom in Whitefielcl, New- 
Hampshire, May twenty-seventh, 1823, his father being Major Perley 
Foster, who took part in the battle of Plattsburgh, on Lake Champlain, in 1812, 
while his grandfather was one of the first to join the side of liberty in the Revolu- 
tion of 1776. Thus, John G. Foster was allied by blood to the valor and patriot- 
ism of the country. 

In 18-42, he entered the Military Academy at West-Point, where he gradu- 
ated in June, 18-46, standing number four in his class. The following month he 
was brevetted Second Lieutenant of engineers, and, in January, 1847, he was 
attached to a company of sappers and miners, despatched with General Scott to 
Mexico. There he greatly distinguished himself in all the battles of that cam- 
paign. On the twentieth of August, 1847, he was made First Lieutenant for 
gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco. At 
Molino del Rey, in 1848, he was leading a division of a storming party in the ter- 
rible assault on Casa Mata, when he was severely wounded. Two thirds of the 
entire command were cut down, and Lieutenant Foster nan-owly escaped death at 
the hands of the Mexicans by the timely charge of Cadwalader. For his bravery 
on this occasion he was brevetted a Captain, with his commission dating from 
September eighth, 1847. 

After the campaign of Mexico, Captain Foster was ordered to Baltimore, and 
thence on duty in the Coast Sui-vey Office, Washington. In April, 1854, he was 
made a full First Lieutenant of engineers, and, during that y^r, was Assistant 
Professor of Engineering at the Military Academy. In 1859, he was appointed 
Engineer in charge of the forts in Charleston harbor and vicinity, and on the first 
of July, 1860, was made a full Captain. 

At the commencement of the rebellion. Captain Foster was on duty at Fort 
Motiltrie, then under command of Major (now General) Anderson, and when that 
place was abandoned, on December twenty-sixth, 1860, Captain Foster remained 
behind to spike the guns, burn the carriages, and destroy the flag-stafip. He then 
departed, with his remaining men, to join Major Anderson at Fort Sumter, where 
he shared all the perils of the bombardment until it was evacuated on the fifteenth 
day of April, 1861. 



310 JOHN G. FOSTER. 

Meanwhile the health of General Foster declined. The weather was exceed- 
ingly severe, and this caused his old wound to become very painful. It was still 
further aggi-avated by an accident that occurred soon after his arrival at Knox- 
ville. One day while riding, his horse stumbled and threw him, thus rendering 
him almost incapable of fulfilling the active duties of his post. Still he perse- 
vered, but finally was compelled to yield, and on the twenty-first of January, an 
order from the War Office aj^j^ointed General Schofield to relieve him. On the 
ninth of Februaiy, his successor arrived, and General Foster immediately depart- 
ed for Baltimore, there to recruit his health by a cessation from all oflicial duties. 
His active mind, however, would not allow him to be idle longer th'an was com- 
pulsory, and directly he was sufficiently strengthened, he applied for service, 
and in May was appointed to command the department of the South. He 
arrived at Hilton Head on the twenty-sixth of May, and relieved General Hatch. 

One of General Foster's first acts after arrival was to order the raising of a 
regiment of militia in Florida, and to direct that all persons having permits to 
trade in his department, renew them at headquarters immediately. This order 
had reference to the host of irregular traders that so frequently hang about 
camps, and help to defraud the soldier. 

On the first of July, General Foster despatched an expedition on an exten- 
sive scale to carry on movements against the enemy. It consisted of commands 
under Generals Hatch, Schemmelfennig, Saxton, and Birney, the whole being 
under General Foster. The troops were embarked in about twenty transports, 
and on amviug at Seabrook Island a portion were sent on shore. At that place 
no rebels were discovered, but on visiting John's Island, they appeared in force. 
More of our troops were landed, and the island was then occupied by us. Gen- 
eral Schemmelfennig at the same time moved on James Island, where there 
was some severe fighting, but the result was in our favor. A fort was captured, 
and two guns, the rebels being driven into the woods. In this attack, two col- 
ored regiments of infantry were in the advance. On the second of July, Fort 
Johnson was unsuccessfully attacked by our troops. Finally, our forces were 
withdrawn, the principal object of the- expedition — in enticing the enemy away 
from other places — having been accomplished. 




, y^tr/yii^i 



MAJ, (TF:N, JfTira C, FravATONT. 



JOHIT CHARLES FREMOI>^T. 

THE subject of this sketcli was born at Savannah, in Georgia, January 21st, 
1818. His father was a native of Lyons, and left France for St. Domingo 
in 1798 ; but the ship in which he sailed, captured by an English cruiser, was 
taken into the British West Indies, whence the captive made his way to Norfolk, 
in Virginia. There he taught his native language for a livelihood, and eventu- 
ally married the daughter of Colonel Thomas Whiting, of Gloucester county, a 
gentleman related by marriage to the family of Washington. 

At the age of fifteen, young Fremont entered Charleston (S. G.) College. For 
some time he made rapid progress in his studies ; but he fell in love, became inat- 
tentive to his collegiate duties, was frequently absent from his class, and for that 
cause was finally expelled. From his seventeenth to his twentieth year he was 
employed as an instructor in mathematics in various schools in Charleston, and 
as a practical surveyor. In 1833, he was appointed a teacher of mathematics on 
board the United States sloop-of-war Natchez, and made a cruise of two years 
and a half in that vessel. On his return, he declined the appointment of professor 
of mathematics in the navy, was employed as an engineer on the railway line 
between Augusta and Charleston, and subsequently, and until the fall of 1837, as 
an assistant engineer u^ on the preliminary survey for a railway between Charles- 
ton and Cincinnati. Fremont's part of the line lay in the mountain-passes be- 
tween South Carolina and Tennessee. This work was suspended in the autumn, 
and the winter of 1837 was spent in making, with Captain Williams, of the 
United States army, a military reconnoissance of the mountains of Georgia, 
North Carolina, and Tennessee — a work performed in anticipation of hostilities 
with the Cherokee Indians. In the spring of 1838, he accompanied M. Nicollet, 
a man of science, employed by the United States government, to the upper Mis- 
sissippi, and served as his principal assistant in the exploration of that year, and 
also in that of the next year, of the country between the Missouri and the British 
line ; and afterward assisted in the preparation of the maps and report of the ex- 
ploration. While upon this expedition, he was appointed, February 7th, 1838, 
a second-lieutenant in the corps of topographical engineers. 

Before Nicollet's maps and report were completed, Fremont was ordered to 
explore the Eiver Des Moines. After the execution of this service, he returned 



•312 JOHN CHAELES FREMONT. 

to "Wasliington, and in October, 1841, married Jessie, the daughter of Thomas 
H. Benton, then United States Senator from Missoui-i. 

While employed under Nicollet, Fremont had conceived the design of ex- 
ploring the Far West, to facilitate its settlement, and open communication with 
the Pacific. As the first step toward this great labor, he applied for and obtained, 
in 1842, an order to explore the Missoiiri frontier as far as the Wind Eiver Peak 
of the Eocky Mountains. lie left the mouth of the Kansas Eiver, June 10th, 
proceeded up the Platte Eiver and its tributaries, through bands of hostile In- 
mans, to the South Pass, which was carefully examined. Thence he proceeded 
to the Wind Eiver Mountains, the loftiest peak of which he ascended, and on his 
return reached the mouth of the Kansas October 10th. His report was laid be- 
fore Congress in the winter of 1842-'3. Humboldt praised it, and the London 
" Athenteum" pronounced it one of the most perfect productions of its kind. 

Early in the spring of 1843, Fremont set out upon a second expedition, 
from which he did not return until August, 1844. His object in this expedition 
was to complete the survey of the line of communication between the state of 
Missouri and the tide-water region of the Columbia, which had never been exam- 
ined or mapped by any geographer ; and to explore the vast region to the south 
of the Columbia — the whole western slope of the Eocky Mountains — a territory 
almost unknown. He set out from Kansas City May 29th, and came in sight of 
Salt Lake September 6th. Eight months later, he reached Utah Lake, the south- 
ern limb of the Great Salt Lake, having comjileted a circuit of twelve degrees' 
diameter north and south, and ten degrees east and west. In the maps and report 
of this expedition, the Great Salt Lake, the Utah Lake, the Little Salt Lake, the 
Klamath Lake, the Sierra Nevada, the valleys of the Sacramento and San Joa- 
quin, the Great Basin, the Thi-ee Parks — nearly all then unknown and desert 
regions, now the homes of multitudes of people — were revealed to the world. 
Nothing in the annals of human adventure can surpass the fortitude with which 
Fremont and bis comrades met the hardshijDs and dangers of this vast exploration. 
For this service he was breveted first-lieutenant and captain in January, 1845. 

Captain Fremont set out on his third expedition in the spring of 1845. He 
crossed the Great Basin from the southern extremity of the Great Salt Lake, and 
reached California in December. From the authorities of that province he ob- 
tained permission to go to the valley of the San Joaquin, where he desired to 
jDrocure supplies, and to recruit his force. At -that tune the relations between 
the United States and Mexico were critical ; and, though the leave was granted 
for him to continue his exploration, it was almost immediately revoked, and he 
was peremptorily ordered to quit the country. In the condition of his men, this 
was impossible; and General Castro, the governor, mustered the forces of the 
province against him. Therefore, to be in a better condition to repel any attack. 



JOUN CHARLES FREMONT. 313 

Fremont took up a position on the Hawk's Peak, about thirty miles from Mon- 
terey, intrenched it, and with his command of sixty-two men awaited the Mexi- 
cans. Here he remained from the 7th till the 10th of March. General Castro 
did not appi'oach, and Fremont abandoned his position, and commenced his 
march for Oregon. Several of his men, who desired to remain in the country, 
"were discharged from service on the :ijiarch. About the middle of May, 1846, 
when he had reached the northern shore of the great Tlamath Lake, and was 
within the limits of Oregon territory, he found his further progress in that direc- 
tion obstructed by impassable snowy mountains, and by hostile Indians, who had 
been excited against him by General Castro ; and Castro, he learned, was still 
advancing against him ; and that the American settlers in the valley of the Sac- 
ramento were comprehended in the scheme of destruction meditated against his 
own party. At the same time, a messenger reached him with dispatches from 
"Washington, in which he was directed to watch over the interests of the United 
States in California, as there was reason to apprehend that the province would 
be transferred to Great Britain. " Under these circumstances," says Secretaiy 
Marey, " he determined to turn upon his Mexican pursuers, and seek safety for 
his own party and the American settlers, not merely in the defeat of Castro, but 
in the total overthrow of the Mexican authority in California, and the establish- 
ment of an independent government in that extensive dej^artment. It was on 
the 6th of June that this resolution was taken, and by the 5th of July it was car- 
ried into efl'ect". . . . and "in the short space of sixty days from the first decisive 
movement, this conquest was achieved by a small body of men to an extent be- 
yond their own expectations, for the Mexican authorities proclaimed it a con- 
quest, not merely of the northern part, but of the whole province of the Cali- 
foruiaa" 

California was thus virtually an independent province, and in the hands of 
the settler-conquerors, who immediately elected Fremont governor. Upon the 
arrival of the United States naval forces, under Stockton, Fremont co-operated 
with them, jind his election as governor was recognized and ratified by Stock- 
ton. Subsequently, General Kearney, of the United States army, arrived in Cal- 
ifornia, and claimed authority over the tenitory, and, as Fremont's superior in 
the national army, required his obedience to orders. His orders conflicted with 
those previously received from Commodore Stockton, and Fremont refused to 
obey them. This brought iipon him the enmity of Kearney. Stockton received 
orders in the spring to turn the command over to Kearney, and that ended the 
dispute. Fremont, tried by court-martial for his share of the trouble, was found 
guilty of " mutiny," " disobedience of lawful orders," and " conduct to the preju- 
dice of good order and military discipline," and was sentenced to be dismissed 

from the service. The President disapproved the decision of the court upon the 
21 



314 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT. 

charge of mutiny, and remitted tlie penalty ; but Fremont, indisposed to accept 
" mercy," resigned his commission, and started upon a winter expedition across 
the mountains, to remove the popular impression that the snow rendered them 
impassable. His intention was, to go from the Eio Grande to the Colorado, 
through the Cochatopee Pass ; but, misled by his guide, he encountered a violent 
snow-storm while twelve thousand feet al)ove the level of the sea. His expedi- 
tion proved disastrous, but he finally demonstrated the existence of the pass, and 
that the route was practicable. 

Upon his arrival in California, Fremont made his home on the Mariposas, a 
tract of land, about two hundred miles south-west from San Francisco, which he 
had purchased in 1847 for three thousand dollars. But he was not allowed to rest. 
Identified with all the great interests of California, and especially with the endeav- 
or to exclude slavery from its constitution, he was chosen in December, 1849, to 
rejDresent that state in the Senate of the United States, and was its first Senator. 
His senatorial career was brief He had drawn the short tenn, and the protracted 
struggle upon the admission of his state left him but two weeks of his first ses- 
sion. In that time he ofiered bills to donate lands to settlers, to settle land-titles, 
■ to grant lands to the state for the purposes of education, to open a road across 
the continent, and for various other measures requisite in a new state. An attack 
of the Panama fever kejDt him from his seat throughout the next session. 

By act of Congress, every claimant of title to land in California was required, 
at the discretion of the United States attorney-general, to sue for his title in per- 
son before three separate tribunals ; and the attorney-general exercised his full 
authority in Fremont's case, though his title to the Mariposas was beyond doubt. 
One of the tribunals was in Washington, and Fremont was compelled to make 
the journey thither from California. He did so, and obtained his title. Investi- 
gation had demonstrated the mineral wealth of the Mariposas tract ; and, upon 
the settlement of the title, Fremont was offered one million dollars for it by a 
London company of capitalists, and one hundred thousand dollars were depos- 
ited with Colonel Benton as a first payment. But Fremont refused to sell, and 
in 1852 went to Europe to negotiate ibr means to work the mines. 

He returned in June, 1853, and in August set out to complete at his own 
expense the survey (abandoned in 1849) of the direct line for the Pacific road 
to San Francisco. Though this was also a winter expedition, and though the 
weather was extremely inclement, he found safe passes through a fine country 
all the way to San Francisco. 

Though previously Fremont had not taken any active share in general poli- 
tics, yet his known sympathy with the principles of the Eepublican party, and 
his career as a man associated with the great development of the Far West, 
brought him prominently before the Eepublican national convention which met 



JOHN CHARLES FREMONT. 315 

at Philadelphia, June 17th, 1856, and that body unanimously nominated him as 
the candidate of the Republican party for the presidency. He was defeated in 
November by the election of James Buchanan, who received one hundred and 
seventy -four electoral votes from nineteen states ; Fremont received one hundred 
and fourteen from eleven states, and his popular vote was one million, three hun- 
dred and forty-one thousand, five hundi'ed and fourteen. In 1858, Mr. Fremont 
returned to California, made that state his residence, and there gave his whole 
attention to the management of his extensive Mariposas estate. 

When the Southern disturbance became an open and aggressive war, Colo- 
nel Fremont was in Paris ; but he determined immediately to return home, and 
reached Boston in the steamshijj Europa, June 27th, 1861. His arrival had been 
anticipated by his appointment as a major-general in the United States army ; 
and on July 6th, upon the creation of the Western department, he was ordered 
to the command in it. This department comprised the state of Illinois, and the 
states and territories west of the Mississippi and east of the Eocky Mountains, 
including New Mexico, and head-quarters were fixed at St. Louis. 

General Fremont reached his depai'tment and assi^med the command, July 
25th. Battles had then been fought at Booneville and Carthage, and nearly the 
whole force under Lyon was in and around Springfield, in daily expectation of 
attack from the large army known to be under M'Culloch and Price. More- 
over, the federal army then in existence had been originally organized for three 
months' service : its time was now nearly expired ; and in view of this, the rebel 
forces began to threaten along the whole line of operations in the department. 
Fremont had thus to hold a department against an active enemy, and had first to 
create an amiy. His difficulties were of immense magnitude ; but he does not 
appear to have talked very much about them, nor to have taken the world at 
large into his confidence, and that caused more trouble still. 

General Pillow, about the first of August, entered south-eastern Missouri at 
the head of a large rebel force ; and, to meet this. General Fremont immediately 
organized an expedition of about eight regiments, which left St. Louis August 2d, 
and moved down the Mississippi to Cairo. Pillow was either alarmed by the 
force thus prepared to meet him, or his movement had been merely intended as 
a feint to cover the advance against Lyon in the south-western part of the state, 
for he withdrew without making any demonstration. Apparently, Fremont was 
beaten in this whole affair : for, by the actual movement made, he lost Lyon and 
Springfield; while, if he had moved to the assistance of Lyon, Pillow would 
doubtless have pi-essed his demonstration against Bird's Point and Cairo, and 
those places would probably have fallen into his hands. 

Fremont's appointment as major-general was confirmed by the Senate on the 
3d of August. On the 13th, he declared martial law in the " city and county 



316 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT. 

of St. Louis ;" and at about the same time he began the construction of the very 
extensive fortifications contemplated for the defence of that city. By his proc- 
lamation of August 31st, he extended the declaration of martial law throughout 
Missouri, and "assumed the administrative powers of the state." This was made 
necessary by "the heljolessness of the civil authority." In the same document, 
it is declared that "the property, real and personal, of all persons in the state of 
Missouri, who shall take up arms against the United States, or who shall be 
directly proven to have taken active part with their enemies in the field, is de- 
clared to be confiscated to the public use, and their slaves, if any they have, are 
hereby declared free men." Against the extension of martial law over the state, 
Hamilton E. Gamble, who had been elected governor upon the delinquency of 
Governor Jackson, protested personally to the President ; but the President was 
disposed to leave the matter with General Fremont, and to " take no step back- 
ward ;" yet by a public order of September 11th, the President qualified the slave 
clause of General Fren;iont's proclamation, so that it should "not transcend the 
provisions on the same subject contained in the act of Congress entitled ' an act 
to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes.' " Yery nearly at the 
same tiine was first heard the rixmor that General Fremont's conduct of affairs 
in Missouri had not given satisfaction in Washington, and that he was to be 
superseded. 

After the battle at Wilson's Creek, and the consequent withdrawal of the 
national forces from the south-western part of the state, it was completely over- 
run by the united forces of M'Culloch, Eains, and Price, who extended their 
operations as far north as the Missouri River, and approached St. Louis from the 
direction of Springfield as near as Warsaw, on the Osage. Extensive prepara- 
tions to rid the state of this invasion were made by Genei-al Fremont at St. Louis, 
and subsequently at Jefferson City ; and for this purpose he finally collected and 
organized, though somewhat imperfectly, a force of thirty thousand men, which 
was disposed in five divisions, commanded respectively by Generals Hunter, 
Sigel, Asboth, M'Kinstry, and Pope. This force comprised twenty-five infantry 
regiments. About five thousand cavalry made up the number, and it was fur- 
nished with thii-ty-six pieces of artillery. On the 14th of October, the whole 
force took up its march — Asboth's and Hunter's commands from the camp at 
Tipton, IM'Kinstry's from Syracuse, Pope's from Booneville, and Sigel's from 
Sedalia — for Warsaw, on the Osage. 

Warsaw was reached on the 17th. There General Fremont halted to build 
a bridge over the Osage, and passed that stream on the 22d. General Price, with 
a force fully equal to the national army, retreated before Fremont as he ad- 
vanced ; but the latter pressed on, in the belief that he could overtake Price near 
the Arkansas line, though his transportation was quite unequal to any very rapid 



JOHN CHARLES FREMOXT. 317 

movement. Price was reported to have made a stand at Cartilage, and Fremont 
occupied Springfield, October 27tli. Price and M'Culloch were then certainly 
not far to the south, with a large force, and a battle became hourly more immi- 
nent. General Fremont devoted himself with intense earnestness to the work 
of preparation for the fight. Meantime, some excitement prevailed, as the possi- 
bility of his removal was talked over in the army, and rumors were current that 
it had already taken place. Fremont could not but be aware of these rumors ; 
yet he worked on until Saturday, November 2d, when he received from a gov- 
ernment messenger the President's unconditional order for him to relinquish the 
command to General Hunter. He did so, and left camp at SjDringfield for St. 
Louis on the 3d, having previously taken leave of the army in the following 
farewell order : 

"Soldiers of the Mississippi Army: Agreeable to orders received this 
day, I take leave of you. Although our ■ army has been of sudden growth, we 
have grown up) together, and I have become familiar with the brave and gen- 
erous spirits which you bring to the defence of your country, and which makes 
me anticipate for you a brilliant career. Continue as you have begun, and give 
to my successor the same cordial and enthusiastic support with which you have 
encouraged me. Emulate the splendid example which you have already before 
you, and let me remain, as I am, proud of the noble army which I have thus far 
labored to bring together. 

" Soldiers, I regret to leave you. Most sincerely I thank you for the regard 
and confidence you have invariably shown me. I deeply regret that I shall not 
have the honor to lead you to the victory which you are just about to win ; but 
I shall claim the right to share with you in the joy of every triumph, and trust 
always to be personally remembered by my companions in arms." 

On the 11th of March, 1862, President Lincoln, having previously ordered 
a genei'al movement of the land and naval forces of the United States, issued an 
order relieving General McClellan from the " other military departments" except 
the department of the Potomac, and creating the new departments of the " Mis- 
sissippi" and the " Mountain department," assigning the command of the latter 
to General Fremont. On the first of April, active operations in his department 
commenced under General Milroy, who compelled the enemy to retreat before him 
as far as Fort Shenandoah toward Staunton from the west. General Fremont left 
Wheeling early in May, and after passing through New-Creek he proceeded to 
Franklin, where he arrived on the thirteenth, his army having come by forced 
marches to relieve Generals Schenck and Milroy who had been attacked and re- 



318 JOHX CHARLES FREMONT. 

pulsed by the enemy. On the appearance of General Fremont, however, the rebels 
all removed from the neighborhood, and quiet was maintained for ten days, during 
which time his forces were reorganized and refi-eshed. At the end of that period, 
an order came to General Fremont directing him to fall back with his entire com- 
mand to the supjDort of General Banks, and prescribing the route by which he 
should go. This route General Fremont deemed to be an injudicious one, and ac- 
cordingly took another of his own selection. He left Franklin at six o'clock on 
Sunday morning, May twenty-fifth, leaving behind all the wounded and sick, so as 
not to impede his progi'css. The march back over the Shenandoah Mountains to 
the neighborhood of Strasburgh was arduous and trying in the extreme. The 
tired ti'oops di'opped by the roadside, and slept under the partial shelter of open 
forests. The next day the rear of the enemy under Jackson was attacked and 
driven back beyond Strasburgh, General Fremont promptly following, and on 
the afternoon of the sixth of June, he reached Harrisonburgh. Here the army 
rested until June eighth, when General Fremont finding the enemy posted at 
Cross-Keys, moved on and attacked him, comjDclling his retreat to Port Eepublic, 
where he was again encountered, but soon disajDpeared. This closing the pursuit 
of Jackson, General Fremont's forces now returned, by way of Harrisonburgh, up 
the valley and reached Mount Jackson June twelfth, where they encamped. 

On the twenty-sixth of June, the troops under General Fremont were con- 
solidated with those of Generals Banks and McDowell, and placed under command 
of Major-General Pope. This step was considered by General Fremont as "plac- 
ing him in an inferior position to that he had previously held, and largely reducing 
his rank and consideration in the service." Accordiuglj^, on the twenty-seventh 
of June, having asked to be relieved from his command, his request was granted. 
Late in May, 1864, having received the nomination of the radical democratic 
party for the Presidency of the United States, he resigned his commission as 
major-general in the army of the United States. 




Eu^'ky-A-H-Bitttot. 



MAJ; GE V. JOH N S E DC WIC K 



JOHiS" SEDGWICK. 

JOHN" SEDGWICK was bom at Cornwall, Litchfield County, Connecticut, in 
1817. He belonged to a family well known in Connecticut, Massachusetts, 
and New- York, among whose members were Miss Catherine Sedgwick, the author- 
ess, and Theodore Sedgwick, the distinguished jurist. John Sedgwick, the grand- 
fether of the late General, was an officer of good reputation during the revolu- 
tionary war. 

The subject of this sketch entered the Military Academy at "West-Point in 
1833, and graduated twenty-fourth in a class of fifty in 1837. Among his class- 
mates were Generals Benham, (who stood first,) Arnold, Vogdes, Thomas, Wil- 
liams, French, and Hooker, and the rebel Generals Bragg, Mackall, Early, and 
Pemberton — all of whom, except Hooker, were graduated above him. 

He was immediately appointed Second Lieutenant in the Second artillery, 
and in April, 1839, was promoted to be First Lieutenant in the same regiment. 
For the next seven or eight years he was employed in no duty which offered him 
opportunity for special distinction, but he was not long in acquiring a reputation 
as a zealous and painstaking officer, whose whole mind was devoted to his profes- 
sion, and whose chief ambition seemed to be to make liimself master of all that 
related to the service in its minutest details. 

The Mexican war opened a field for the display of the knowledge he had 
carefully accumulated duiing the previous years of peace. At the battles of Con- 
treras and Churubusco he commanded his company, and won the brevet rank of 
Captain for his gallant and meritorious conduct. In the engagement of El Molino 
del Eey his behavior was again the subject of special commendation. For his 
distinguished services at Chapultepec he was brevetted Major, and the official re- 
ports of the attack upon the San Cosmo gate of the City of Mexico make particu- 
lar mention of his gallant behavior. In this last-named action the command of 
his company again devolved upon him. He received the full I'ank of Captain in 
January, 1849, and in March, 1855, was transferred to the First cavalry, with the 
commission of Major. 

At the time of the Kansas troubles his regiment, of which the late Major- 
General Sumner was then Colonel, was stationed at Fort Leavenworth, and hav- 
ing been placed by the Secretary of War at the disposal of the Governor of 



320 JOHN SEDGWICK. 

tlie territory, was actively engaged iu many of tlie disturbances. With detacli- 
ments of dragoons, Major Sedgwick was frequently sent on expeditions against 
one or the other of the hostile parties then in arms against each other, and in 
after-life he was fond of telling, not without a spice of dry humor, how impartially 
he discharged his duty — dispersing a band of Missourians one day, and imprison- 
ing John Brown the next. In one of the encounters between the trox)ps and the 
settlers, a young lad belonging to the Free State party was severely wounded and 
left in the hands of the dragoons. Major Sedgwick, with his characteristic ten- 
derness, took the lad to his own quarters, and nursed him until his wounds were 
healed. For this act of humanity he was rebuked by Mr. Jefferson Davis, then 
Secretary of War, and annoyed by a long and unsatisfactory correspondence with 
the officials at Washington. Colonel Sumner's conduct also gave umbrage to Mr. 
Davis, and led to his being relieved from his command. ' 

In 1858 and 1859, Major Sedgwick was in command at Fort Riley, and iu 
1860 at Fort Wise, where he was still stationed at the time of the outbreak of the 
rebellion in 1861. On the sixteenth of March of that year, he was appointed 
Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second cavalry, and on the twenty -fifth of April, Colo 
nel of the Fourth cavalry. His commission as Brigadier-General of volunteers 
was dated August thirty-first, 1861. His first command was a brigade composed 
of two New- York and two Maine regiments, in Heintzelman's division of the army 
of the Potomac, but before the opening of the spring campaign he exchanged this 
for a division in the Second (Sumner's) army corps. For a short time he had been 
in conmiaud on the Upper Potomac, relieving General Stone. After the evacua- 
tion of Yorktown, his division and the divisions of Franklin, Fitz-John Porter, 
and Richardson were sent by water to West-Point, on the Pamunkey, and a por- 
tion of his troops participated in Franklin's gallant repulse of the enemy at that 
place on the seventh of May. At the battle of Fair Oaks, May thirty-first, he 
jDrobably saved the day. Heintzelman and Keyes had been fighting manfully all 
the afternoon against overpowering numbers, and were in a most critical position, 
when Sedgwick, after a severe march of three hours, crossed the Chickahominy 
by a bridge which the enemy supposed to have been destroyed by a flood, and 
about six o'clock reached the field of battle. Three desperate assaults by the 
rebels were repulsed, and Sedgwick then in turn attacked, drove them at the point 
of the bayonet within the cover of a thick wood, and kept possession of the field 
with all the confederate dead and wounded. On the twenty-ninth of June, during 
the retreat from the Chickahominy to the James, he repulsed a furious attack of 
the enemy at Allen's Farm, and in the battles of Savage's Station and Glendale, 
and other engagements of the seven days' fight, he distinguished himself in the 
most gallant manner. For his services at Fair Oaks he received the brevet rank 
of Brigadicr-Geueral in the regular army, dating from the day of the battle. 



JOHN SEDGWICK. 321 

He participated in the closing scenes of General Pope's Virginia cam- 
paign, and afterward marched with his command under McClellan into Mary- 
land. He reached the battle-field of Antietam after the action had commenced, 
and was oi'dered to the right of the line to support an attack upon Lee's left. 
Forming his division in three parallel lines by brigades, he moved the front under 
a severe fire from concealed batteries, and drove the enemy through a wood. On 
a hill, however, commanding the exit from the wood was a line of confederate 
breastworks and batteries, and while his fi'ont was assailed by a tremendous fire 
from these, a strong column of the enemy, having pressed back the Federal bri- 
gade on Sedgwick's left, appeared on the left of his rear. Exposed to a fii^ in 
front and flank, which it could not return, Sedgwick's third line gave way in con- 
fusion, and was followed l)y the second and first, but the personal exertions of 
their General soon retrieved the disorder. Though twice wounded, and faint 
from loss of blood, he retained command of his division for more than an hour 
after his first wound, and was finally carried from the field. 

On his recovery, in December, he was nominated Major-General of volun- 
teers, to date from July fourth, 1862, and assigned command of the Ninth corps. 
He did not reach the army in time to take part in Burnside's attack upon Frede- 
ricksburgh. During the absence of General Sumner he was temporarily in com- 
mand of the right grand division of the army of the Potomac. In February, 1863, 
he succeeded General "Baldy " Smith in command of the Sixth corjDS, and on the 
twenty-fifth of the same month his commission as Major-General was ante-dated 
so as to give him rank from May thirty-first, 1862, the day of the battle of Fair 
Oaks. 

When General Hooker made his attack upon Chancellorsville, in May, 1863, 
Sedgwick was placed at the extreme left of the line, with instructions to carry the 
heights of Fredericksburgh and effect a junction with Hooker in the rear of the 
town. The enemy had a strong position on the crest of a ridge known as Marye's 
Heights. Twice the Sixth corps had assaulted it, and it had failed. When the 
men recoiled under their second repulse. General Sedgwick, who was watching the 
movement fi-om a commanding position, drew his hat down over his eyes, and 
striding up to his Adjutant-General, exclaimed, in a low voice but with an energy 
that was almost fierce : " By heaven, sir, this must not delay us !" He now made 
the most careful preparations for a third attack. In a council of his subordinate 
generals he had asked their advice. They thought the position could not be car- 
ried. General Sedgwick heard them in silence, and then quietly gave minvite 
directions for the assault. Three columns were organized — all picked men. One 
was to move part way up the Heights, form in line of battle, and lie down on the 
left of the f hancellorsville road, under a sudden rise of ground, which protected 
them from the enemy's fire. I'he others were to move directly up the hill, side 
by side in columns by fours, to the right of the line of battle. 



322 JOHN SEDGWICK. 

There was a oert;iin point, lar uji the .slope, where the lire from all the rebel 
works converged. Ko troop.s had hitherto heeu able to jias.s it. The eolunins 
pressed steadily on until they reaehed it, cheering and rivalling each other as they 
marched side by' side ; but when they came within the focus of this terrible fire 
the leading files began to fritter away, so that although the rear kept moving for- 
ward the front made no progress. At this moment the line-of-battle behmd them 
sprang wp from the ground with a shout, and rushed ujion the works. The 
wavering columns plucked up fresh spirit, and all three entered tlie breastworks 
together, capturing eight guns and eight hundred prisoners. The whole corps, 
accoVding to Ilooker's instructions, now pressed on toward Chaneellorsville. At 
Salem Ileights, five miles on his way, Sedgwick found the enemy in hcav}' force 
and strongly posted. He carried the licights b}^ assault, but could not hold them, 
and meanwhile a strong body of the enemy had regained possession of Marve's 
Heights in his rear, while it became evident that the main part of Lee's ai'my was 
interposed between him and Hooker, and was preparing to fall upon liim in over- 
whelming numbers. Eestmg that night on the field he had won, he sent the next 
morning (Monday, the fourth) for reeuforcements ; but Hooker had now resolved 
to retreat across the Rappahannock, and replied that he was too far oft' to aflbrd 
aid, and the Sixth corps must fall back to the river. The enemy being in tlie 
rear, this movement was not eflected without difficulty and some hard fighting, 
but by Tuesday morning, Sedgwick had brought his whole command to the 
noi'th bank of the l\ai>pahaunock, passing the rebels on the Jlank daring the 
night. 

Wiien the army of the Potomac marched to meet the rebels in Pennsyl- 
vania, in the following month, the Sixth corps held the extreme right of the line. 
Eeceiving ordei-s to hasten to the battle-fiekl of Gettysburgh, they made by night 
a forced march of thirty miles — one of the most rapid in the history of the war — 
and reached the field on the second day of the fight, in the heat of the struggle 
for the possession of the gap left open in the left centre by the misphicing of 
Sickles's corps. The Third corps had given way ; the Fifth and Second, though 
fighting manfully, were in imminent danger of being overwhelmed, when Sedg- 
wick's foot-sore and hungry men, almost exhausted by their thirty-six hours' 
march, appeared in sight. As if fresh from camp, they rushed forward with a 
shout, and drove back the rebel cokimn in confusion. Foiled in this attack, the 
confederates made a sudden assault ui>on the right wing. Sedgwick rapidly 
shifted his corps to meet them. The battle raged until late at night. At half- 
past nine the rebels made a tremendous charge, and were finally repulsed. The 
next day, Friday, Julv third, the engagement was hot all along the line, and 
Sedgwick's services were as usual of the most important character. 

During the advance of the army toward the Rapidan, in the autumn of this 



JOHN SEDGWICK. 323 

year, General Sedgwick was charged with the duty of driving the enemy across 
the EapjDahanuoclv and capturing their works at Rappahannock Station, where 
the raih-oad crosses that stream. The confederates held one or two formidable 
forts on the south bank commanding the railroad. General Sedgwick, with his 
own and a part of the Fifth corps, crossed on jjontoons a little farther up the river, 
and by a gallant night attack, November seventh, carried the works, captured 
four guns, two thousand small arms, eight battle-flags, a bridge train, and one 
tliousaiid sis: hundred prisoners, and compelled Lee to retreat behind the Eajjidan. 

Toward the end of the same month, General Meade crossed the latter river 
and attacked the rebels at Mine Eun, but finding it impossible to carry their posi- 
tion with the troops at his command, he withdrew to his former quarters on the 
Rappahannock, on the first of December. In this abortive campaign, the troops 
chiefly engaged were those of Sedgwick and Sykes. 

By virtue of seniority, General Sedgwick commanded the army of the Poto- 
mac during the absence of General Meade, and the permanent command of it*was 
twice offered him but refused. He was unwilling to accept the responsibility of 
so heavy a trust without the assurance that he would be at perfect libertj^ to fight 
when, where, and how he thought best. He was in command at the time the 
army moved forward in the winter of 1864 to cover General Butler's attempted 
raid into Richmond by way of the peninsula. 

His important share iir the battles of the Wilderness, with which General 
Grant began his advance upon Richmond in Maj-, 1864, need not be particular!}^ 
mentioned. On Friday, the sixth, the second day of the fight, his corps was sud- 
denly and fiercely assailed, and one brigade, which had but recently been put 
under his command, was swegt away and a great part of another destroyed. The 
whole right wing, and indeed the whole army, was in imminent peril, but Sedg- 
wick, by incessant exertions and personal exposure, rallied his troops and finally 
repulsed the enemy. In this day's engagement he lost nearly six thousand men. 
On Saturday and Sunday the fighting was frequent, but tess severe. On Mondav, 
the ninth, there was comparative quiet. General Sedgwick rode out to the front 
of his lines near Spottsylvania Court-House, to superintend the placing of his 
artillery. A few rebel sharp-shooters had their eyes on the party, and the General 
was amusing himself at the nervousness which his gunners sometimes manifested, 
as a rifle-ball whistled near them. "Pooh ! man," he exclaimed; "they could not 
hit an elephant at this distance." A moment afterward, a bullet struck him in 
the face, penetrating just below the eye ; he fell into the arms of one of his staff: 
a pleasant smile crept over his face ; he clasped his hands over his breast, and died 
so quietly that it was not known when he ceased to breathe. 

General Sedgwick was perhaps the best example of the practical as distin- 
guished from the theoretical soldier which this war has produced. Though by no 



324 JOHN SEDGWICK. 

means an illiterate man — on the contrary, extremely -well informed on almost all 
subjects — lie knew very little of books, seldom read any thing, and, as his stand- 
ing at West-Point indicates, made no pretence of proficiency in the abstruse 
branches of military science. Yet in the field he was invaluable. No command 
with which he was intrusted ever proved too high for him ; and no officer of the 
present United States army enjoys a more enviable reputation for all soldierly 
qualities than he possessed among his companions in arms. Though a strict dis- 
ciplinarian, he was universally beloved by his men, who woiild confidently follow 
"Uncle John," as they used to call him, into any danger, and almost to certain ' 
death. 

He was remarkably quiet and unassuming in manner, but he had a sturdv, 
independent spirit which would brook no injustice. For all his mild exterior, it 
was well known that he was not a man to be trifled with. General McCIellan, in 
his oration at the dedication of the West-Point Battle Monument, paid a feeling 
tribute to the memory of " true John Sedgwick, gentle and kind as a woman, 
displaying the highest qualities of a commander and soldier, dying as a soldier 
would choose ! " 

The General was never married. When not in the field, which was seldom, 
he lived with his sister at Cornwall, on the old homestead which had been in the 
possession of his family for one hundred and twenty years. 




BTilC. (;F.X A.K.BIJK>,\sil 



AMBEOSE ETEEETT BTJEXSIDE. 

AMBEOSE EYEEETT BUEXSIDE was born at Liberty, Union county, 
Indiana, on the 23d day of May, 1824:, and was, consequently, in the full 
prime of his early manhood when the War for the Union commenced. He is 
of the old blood that flowed in the veins of heroes at Bannockbum and Flodden 
Field, and which, in many a hotly-contested battle, has proved the Scotch to be 
among the best soldiers in the world. 

His grand-pjjrents were bom in Scotland, but, removing to America near 
the close of the last century, settled in South Carolina. Here General Bumside's 
father was bom, educated, and married. Following tjie profession of law, he 
acquired an eminent position, and enjoyed a profitable practice. Afler the war 
of 1812, the great fields of the West attracted the attention of the citizens of the 
old states. Mr. Bumside early felt the influence, and in the year 1821 he re- 
moved with his family to Liberty. We find him honorably and creditably filling 
the office of clerk, and aftei-ward of judge of the circuit court, in his new home. 

The son, Ambrose, was carefully nurtured, and received his elementarv 
education in the best schools of the neighborhood. He was admitted to the 
military academy at West Point in his eighteenth year, and was graduated in 
181:7, in the artillery, the fifteenth in rank, in a class niunbering forty-seven 
members. In the following year he received a full second-lieutenancy, and was 
attached to the thii-d regiment of artillery. During his stay at West Point, the 
war with Mexico commenced ; and immediately upon his graduation, he proceed- 
ed to the scene of action. On his arrival at Vera Cruz, Lieutenant Bumside was 
put in command of an escort to a baggage-train, and sent into the interior. Al- 
though the route was in the nominal possession of the United States troops, the 
Mexicans, by a guerilla warfare, which they continually carried on, had suc- 
ceeded in cutting off or disabling several trains that had previously been sent 

The duty was hazardous, and the post responsible ; but the young lieuten- 
ant carried his small command through without injury, and manifested so much 
fidelity and skill as to win the commendation of his superior officers. Before 
the column to which Lieutenant Burnside joined himself could reach the capital, 
the battles in front of the city of Mexico had been fought, and the war was vir- 
tually finished. He was thus deprived of the opportunity which he desired of 
participating, to any great extent, in the active operations of the armies in the 



?2G AMBROSE EVERETT BUR X SIDE. 

field. When peace was proclaimed, he was ordered to Fort Adams, Newport, 
Rhode Island, and was employed at that post until the spring of 1849. His 
natural refinement of manner, his urbane deportment, and his frank and manly 
bearing, gained him many friends, and hero he laid the foundation of that re- 
markable esteem with which he is regarded in the state of Rhode Island. 

In the year 1849, he was transferred from the agreeable duty of the post at 
Fort Adams, and ordered to New Mexico, to join Bragg's famous battery, of 
which he was now appointed first-lieutenant. It was found that the country 
was not favorable for the operations of light artillery. Bragg's command was 
reorganized as cavalry, and Lieutenant Burnside was put in charge of a com- 
pany. The service was very exciting and perilous, but our lieutenant acquitted 
himself with such coftlness and bi-avery as to receive warm encomium for his 
conduct. He reached New Mexico on the 1st of August, and immediately went 
into the field. On the 21st of that month, while scouring the, country near Los 
Vegas, with a force of twenty -nine men, he saw a company of Indians, sixty or 
seventy-five strong, drawn \ip at the head of a ravine, prepared to dispute his 
jDrogress. He immediately determined to attack them ; and, after a single dis- 
charge of their rifles, his men, led by their gallant commander, charged with 
sabres, and swept the Apaches like chaff before them. In this brief and brilliant 
engagement, eighteen Indians were killed, nine were taken prisoners, forty horses 
were captured, and the whole band was effectually dispersed. The commander 
of the jjost. Captain Judd, complimented Burnside, in dispatches, in the highest 
terms, and recommended him for promotion. 

In the winter of 1850-'51, we find Lieutenant Burnside acceptably filling 
the office of quartermaster of the boundary commission, then occupied in running 
the line between the United States and Mexico, as established by the treaty of 
peace negotiated by the two nations. In September, 1851, he was ordered across 
the plains of the Far West, as bearer of disjiatches to the government It was a 
duty requiring the utmost vigilancQ, prudence, and persistence. It was necessary 
that the dispatches which he bore should reacli Washington at the earliest pos- 
sible moment. With an escort of three men — one of whom was his faithful 
negro-servant, who has followed his fortunes for several years with singular devo- 
tion — he started on his difficult enterprise. Twelve hundred miles of wilderness, 
occupied by hostile Indians and wild beasts, lay between him and civilization. 
He accomplished the distance in seventeen days, meeting with many adventures 
and hair-breadth escapes upon the way. At one time a party of Indians was 
upon his trail for more than twenty-four hours, and he only escaped by taking 
advantage of the darkness of the night to double upon his pursuers. He fully 
accomplished the object of his mission, and received the thanks of the war 
department for his efiiciency and success. 



AMBROSE EVERETT BURXSIDE. 327 

During his service in New Mexico, he had found that the carbine with 
which the troops were armed was a wholly inadequate weapon for the peculiar 
warfirre of the plains. "While upon his journey to Washington, he occupied his 
mind with an attempt to supply the defect. The result of his reflection and 
study was the invention of the new bi'eech-loading rifle, which bears the name 
of its inventor, and seems a perfect weapon. Lieutenant Burnside was desirous 
that his own countiy should receive the benefit of his labors, and he offered to 
contract with the government for the manufacture of the arm. Pending nego- 
tiation, he returned to his former post at Newport. While here, on the 27th of 
April, 1852, he was married to Miss Mary Bishop, of Providence, a lady of great 
force of character and of most amiable disposition. 

The expectation of a contract for the manufacture of the newly-invented 
rifle, and his marriage, decided Lieutenant Burnside to leave the ser\'ice, and he 
resigned his commission. Eemoving to Bristol, he built a manufactory, and 
made all necessary arrangements for completing his business negotiations with 
the government. Unfortunately for him, the contract was not consummated ; 
and, after three or four years of struggle and loss, Mr. Burnside became so deejily 
involved and embarrassed as to prevent any further progress in his adopted occu- 
pation. He was still more embarrassed l)y the action of John B. Floyd, who 
became secretary of war in 1857, and found himself comjjclled to withdraw en- 
tirely from the manufocture of arms. With characteristic high-mindedness, he 
gave up every thing which he possessed, including his patent, to his creditors ; 
and, selling even his uniform and swoi'd, sought to retrieve his fortunes at the 
West. He went to Chicago, April 27th, 1858, and obtained a situation as cashier 
in the land department of the Illinois Central Eailroad. His old friend and 
schoolfellow, Captain George B. McClellan, occupied an honorable position in 
tiie same railroad company, and the two soldiers once more made their quarters 
together. Burnside, limiting his expenses to a certain amount, devoted the 
remainder of his salary to the payment of his debts ; and when afterward he was 
enabled to free himself entirely from the claims of his creditors, his unblemished 
integrity in biisiness was as conspicuous as his former gallantry in the field. In 
June, 1860, he was promoted to the ofl&ce of treasurer of the railroad company. 

The intelligence of the bombardment of Fort Sumter, and the proclamation 
of the President of the United States, awakened Mr. Burnside's patriotism, and 
he felt once more impelled to take the field. His country had given him his 
education, and he felt that to his country his life and services were due. His 
residence in Rhode Island had endeared him to the people of that gallant state, 
and he had already held the highest command of the state militia. When the 
first regiment of Rhode Island troops was offered to the secretary of war by the 
o-overnor of that state, it was to him that all eyes turned for the command. He 

25 



328 AMBROSE EVERETT BURNSIDE. 

was appointed colonel, immediately closed his desk of business, and repaired to 
Providence. There he devoted his time to the organization and equipment of 
the regiment; and so effectively was the work performed, that on Thursday, 
April 18th, the light battery of six guns, and one hiindred and fifty men, was 
embarked on board a steamer, and sailed to New York, on the way to Washing- 
ton. On Saturday, the first detachment of the regiment, five hundred and forty- 
four ofiicers and men — armed, iiniformed, provisioned for a three weeks' cam- 
paign, and abundantly supplied with ammunition — left Providence by steamer. 
Transferred to the government transport Coatzocoalcos -at New York, the com- 
mand joroceeded to Annapolis without delay, arriving on Wednesday, April 23d. 

On Thursday morning the troops took up the line of march, and, bivouack- 
ing on the road, reached Annapolis Junction early on Friday morning. Taking 
cars at that point; they went on to Washington, reaching the capital at noon. 
The light battery, which had stopped at Easton, Pennsylvania, and the remain- 
der of the regiment, anived at Washington in the early part of the following 
week ; and twelve hundred Rhode Island men, under the command of Colonel 
Burnside, were thus ready for any emergency. The regiment, under the thor- 
ough discipline of its commander, soon took high rank in the army for character 
ijnd efficiency. Its camp, located in the northern suburbs of the city, became a 
favorite place of resort, and was considered a model of its kind. The excellent 
reputation which the regiment had acquired, was mainly due to the unwearied 
efforts and the unceasing vigilance of its colonel. In June, the regiment joined 
General Patterson's column, intended for the reduction of Harper's Ferry ; but, 
on the evacuation of that place by the rebels, it was recalled to Washington, in 
anticipation of an attack upon the capital. 

Upon the advance toward Manassas, in July, Colonel Burnside was placed 
in command of a brigade, consisting of four regiments and a battery, viz. : the 
first Rhode Island ; the second Rhode Island, with its battery of light artillery, 
which had reached Washington in J*une ; the second New Hampshire, which had 
also arrived in June ; and the seventy-first New York, which had accompanied 
the Rhode Island troops on the march from Annapolis, in April. Colonel Burn- 
side had been offered a brigadier-generalship upon ■ his first arrival at Washing- 
ton, but had declined it, on the ground of duty to his own regiment and state. 
But when it became necessary to organize the army, preparatory to an advance 
into Virginia, he did not hesitate to accept the post which was now j^ressed upon 
him. His brigade was joined to the division under Colonel David Hunter, and 
with the rest of the army left Washington on Tuesday, July 16th. The division 
bivouacked at Annandale, and on Wednesday, with Colonel Burnside 's brigade 
in advance, pushed on to Fairfax Court House. On Thursday,, the whole army 
encamped at Centreville, after a skirmish between a part of General Tyler's 



AMBROSE EVERETT BURNSIDE. 



320 



division and the rebels at Blackburn's Ford. On Sunday morning, July 21st, 
the army moved toward Manassas Junction. 

In the disastrous battle of Bull Run, Colonel Burnside and his brigade were 
conspicuous for their bravery and steadiness. They were among the troops to 
whom that day's events brought no disgrace. Burnside's own regiment showed, 
by its gallantry and coolness, that its colonel's labors had produced the finest 
results. The other regiments of the brigade also proved what good soldiers 
could do in the hands of a brave and able officer. The battery of the second 
Ehode Island was most efficiently served, and the regiment itself was particularly 
distinguished for its gallantry. General M'Dowell had alread}^ complimented 
Colonel Burnside upon his command, and declared that he should rely upon the 
brigade in the time of action. Accordingly, in the flank movement toward Sud- 
ley's Ford, by Colonel Hunter's division, Burnside's brigade took the advance — 
the second Rhode Island regiment, under Colonel Slocum, a most gallant and 
accomplished officer, leading the column. 

Soon after crossing Bull Run at Sudley's Ford, about half-past nine o'clock, 
A. M., the leading regiment was attacked by the enemy. Colonel Hunter, who 
was in advance, was wounded very early in the action ; and Colonel Burnside, 
being in command of the troops till Colonel Porter, who was in the rear, came 
up, at once led the residue of his brigade forward, and, posting them most advan- 
tageously, succeeded in beating back the enemy's attack, and driving him from 
the part of the field where he had taken position. Colonel Porter's brigade was 
deployed to the right, and Colonel Heintzelman's division took post still fiirther 
upon the right. Colonel Burnside's brigade, assisted by Major Sykes's bat- 
talion of regulars, stood the brunt of the enemy's attack in complete order for 
nearly two hours, when, having completed the work assigned to it, with a loss 
of three hundred killed and wounded, and being relieved by Colonel Sherman's 
brigade, it was withdrawn to replenish its now exhausted supply of ammunition, 
and to await orders to renew the contest. But the order which came was not 
to advance, but to retreat. Colonel Burnside at once collected his brigade, 
formed his regiments in column by the side of the road, waited till the larger 
portion of the disorganized troops had passed, and with Major Sykes's battalion 
of regulars and Captain Arnold's regular battery in the rear, prepared to cover 
the retreat along the forest-path ove]- which the division had marched in the 
morning. 

The admirable disposition thus made by Colonel Burnside and Major Sykes, 
under General M'Dowell's direction, contributed greatly to the safety of the 
broken army in its perilous march through the woods. On emerging from the 
forest-path, the artillery passed to the front, and the infantry were left unpro- 
tected. The retreat continued in good order till the army reached the bridge on 



330 AMBROSE EVERETT BURN SIDE. 

tlie Warrenton turnpike, crossing Cub Eun. Near this place, tlie rebels had 
brought up a battery of artillery, a regiment or two of infantry, and a squadron 
of cavalry, and attempted to cut off our defeated forces. They succeeded in ob- 
structing the bridge sufficiently to prevent the passage of many baggage-wagons, 
ambulances, and gun-carriages, and at this place the greatest loss of cannon by the 
national troops occurred. When Colonel Burnside reached the bridge, it was in 
such condition as to preclude the possibility of crossing, and he ordered the men to 
ford the stream, and rally at Centreville. The scattered forces sought the camps 
which they had left in the morning, and prepared to pass the night. General 
M'Dowell soon sent orders to continue the retreat to Washington. ,The brigade 
reached Long Bridge about seven o'clock on the morning of Monday, July 22d, 
and two hours later entered Washington, in the order in which it had quitted 
the city on the Tuesday previous. The regiments composing it immediately 
marched to their respective camps. Colonel Burnside's bearing, in all the expe- 
rience of the day and night, was all that could be expected of a man and a 
soldier, and he at once attracted the attention of the country to his gallantry, 
generalship, and skill. 

The term of service for which the first Ehode Island regiment had enlisted, 
expired on the day before the battle ; but the regiment, having suffered little or 
no demoralization, was ready to remain longer at Washington, if its services 
should be required. Colonel Burnside was unwilling to return to Ehode Island 
till he was assured that the capital was beyond danger of an attack. His officers 
and men shared his feelings. But the war department had resolved upon a reor- 
ganization of the army, and the three months' regiments were all ordered to their 
homes. The second regiment from Ehode Island, with its battery, was left in the 
field ; while the first returned to Providence, and was there mustered out of the 
service of the United States. Colonel Burnside, with his regiment, received the 
thanks of the general assembly of Ehode Island for the fidelity and bravery with 
which he and they had' performed their duties. Colonel Burnside's services were 
also recognized by the general government, and he was at once promoted to tfce 
rank of brigadier-general, his commission dating August 6th, 1862. 

Immediately upon receiving his commission, General Burnside was sum- 
moned to Washington, to assist in reorganizing the forces in front of the capital. 
He was employed in brigading the troops as they arrived, and assigning them 
places of encampment. To his excellent judgment in this respect, and his great 
executive skill, the efficiency of the army was to a great degree due, in those dark 
days of the reptiblic. 

Later in the season, several expeditions were projected, to operate at diffi^r- 
ent points uj^on the Southern coast. The most hazardous and difficult of these, 
designed to effect a lodgement upon the dangerous shores of North Carolina, and, 



AMBROSE EVERETT BURNSIDE. 331 

carrj'ing a force into the interior, in tlie rear of the rebel army in Virginia, to 
cut off communication with tke South, was intrusted to the genius and ability 
of Burnside. For more than two months he was indefatigably employed at his 
head-quarters, in the city of New York, preparing for this important enterprise. 
The expedition finally set sail from Annapolis in the early jDart of January, 1862. 
Fifteen thousand men were embarked ujson a large fleet of transports, and, con- 
voyed by numerous gunboats, proceeded to the place of their destination. The 
route of the expedition lay through Hatteras Inlet into Albemarle Sound. It 
was a short voyage indeed, but a most perilous one. Cape Hatteras, noted for 
its storms, is the terror of every mariner whose course lies along the North Amer- 
ican coast. The wintry season added to the dangers of the navigation. The 
exjDedition had hardly left the land-locked waters of Chesapeake Bay, when a 
most terrific storm burst upon the armada with frightful fury. The tortuous 
and shifting channel leading through the inlet into the sound was to be found 
and followed in the very .teeth of the wind, when the storm was at its height. 
The inlet itself had been produced by the sea breaking across the narrow spit of 
sand from which Cape Hatteras projects, and the depth of the channel shifts and 
changes with the varying influence of the wind and tide. It was found, there- 
fore, that several of the vessels which at New York had been certified to be of 
light draught, sufficient to pass through the channel, could not be got over the 
bar. The consequence was, that a large portion of the fleet was in imminent 
danger of shipwreck. 

For nearly a week the storm continued, and the deplorable situation of 
affairs seemed to indicate the destruction of the entire expedition at the very 
threshold of its career. In this most trying crisis. General Burnside's admirable 
qualities shone forth in illustrious light. It is the universal testimony of all who 
were connected with this expedition, that the bearing of its brave commander 
was beyond all praise. He seemed to be omnipresent. Wherever the troops 
were to be rescued from their perilous position, wherever the danger was most 
threatening, wherever encouragement was needed, wherever help was most timely, 
there always appeared the general ; and, by exertions beneath which any' man 
with a less lofty purpose and a less persistent energy would have sunk exhausted, 
the expedition was brought to a safe anchorage within Albemarle Sound, and 
the forces landed in good order. Only a few vessels foundered, and two or three 
lives were lost by the accidental swamjDing of a life-boat. Encompassed by perils 
and threatened with disasters, General Burnside never lost his courage, his hope, 
and his faith. Buoyed up in the midst of misfortune by his unswerving trust in 
the care of a superintending Providence, he stood serene and unmoved at his 
post of duty, and conquered even the elements by an unwearied patience. 

Harassed by the delays caused by the storm, active operations against the 



332 AMBROSE EVERETT BURN SIDE. 

rebels could not at once be commenced. The jjlan agreed upon by General 
McClellan and the authorities at "Washington was, to threaten Norfolk by an 
attack upon the rebel stronghold of Eoanoke Island, before proceeding to the 
mainland. Every thing was prepared for this initial step by the first of Febru- 
ary ; and on the 5th of that month, the troops being embarked on board the 
transports (and the gunboats, under the command of Commodore L. M. Golds- 
borough, being ready to move), the whole fleet steamed slowly up toward the 
entrance of Albemarle Sound. On the 6th, the gunboats entered Croatan Sound, 
engaged the rebel fleet, and bombarded the water-batteries of the enemy on 
Eoanoke Island. On the afternoon of the 7th, the troops were landed ; and on 
the morning of the 8th, the attack was made upon the key of the position, a 
battery in the centre of the island. The battle lasted two hours, and resulted in 
the complete victory of the national forces, which placed in General Burnside's 
hands six forts and batteries, forty cannon, over two thousand prisoners of war, 
and three thousand stands of arms. ■- The national loss was thirty -five killed and 
two hundred wounded. 

Commodore Goldsborough immediately sent a fleet of gunboats up the Pas- 
quotank and Chowan Rivers, by which the rebel gunboats were sunk, captured, 
or driven away ; and Elizabeth City, Hertford, Edenton, and Plymouth, fell into 
the possession of the Union troops. 

These brilliant successes were hailed with the utmost .enthusiasm by the 
people of the North. Following swiftly upon the defeat of the rebels under 
General Zollicoffer at Mill Spring, Kentucky, they served to revive the spirits 
of the loyal men, and to assure them of greater victories to come. By none was 
the intelligence of Burnside's triumph more gratefully received than by the 
people of Ehode Island. The general assembly, which was in session, immedi- 
ately voted General Burnside a sword in honor of the victory, and the thanks of 
the representatives of the people to the officers and men under his command. 
Massachusetts, through her legislature, expressed her gratitude. The Congress 
of the United States and the heads of the government acknowledged by their 
action their sense of the importance of this great success ; and the President 
nominated General Burnside a major-general of volunteers. The Senate con- 
firmed the nomination on the 18th of March, 1862. 

Meanwhile, General Burnside was not idle: Eeleasing his prisoners by ex- 
change, in order that the record of Bull Eun might be thoroughly efiaced, he 
prepared to make further advances upon the enemy's forces. In pursuance of 
the instructions of the general-in-chief, Burnside once more embarked his troops 
on the 6th of March, and made ready to strike another and more decisive blow. 
This time it was Newbern that was destined to feel the weight of his loyal hand. 
On Wednesday, March 12th, the expedition passed the scene of its first disasters ; 



AMBROSE EVERETT BURNSIDE. 



333 



on the morning of Thursday, the troojjs were lauded at the mouth of Slocum's 
Creek, on the Neuse river, a distance of ten miles south of Newbern ; and, in the 
afternoon of the same day, a fatiguing march of seven miles, flanked and pro- 
tected by the gunboats in the river, brought them within a short distance of the 
enemy's intrencliments, passing one or two deserted batteries on the way. Here 
they bivouacked in the midst of a drenching rain ; and early on the morning of 
Friday, March 14th, they were roused and pi-epared to make the attack. 

The battle commenced about half-past seven o'clock, and continued for four 
hours. The enemy was strongly intrenched in batteries and rifle-pits, at least a 
mile in length, and bravely defended his works. But nothing could withstand 
the valor and endurance of our brave troops, and the -consummate skill of their 
leadei". The contest was decided, as at Eoanoke, by a bayonet-charge, and the 
rebels fled in precipitate haste. They escaped by means of the bridges crossing 
the Eiver Trent to Newbern, and retreated in disorder and panic by the railroad 
to Goldsborough. Our troops were prevented from following by the destruction 
of the bridges, which the rebels burnt as they retreated. The gunboats and 
transports were delayed by a dense fog, but, as soon as they came up, carried the 
troops across to the city. It was too late to oveiiake the flying foe, and only 
two hundred prisoners were captured. 

By this success — hardly bought, indeed, by the loss of eighty-six killed, and 
four hundred and thirty-eight wounded — all the rebel intrencliments and battei'- 
ies, mounting between fifty and sixty pieces of cannon, large quantities of stores, 
ammunition, arms, tents, and baggage, and the city of Newbern, came into the 
possession of the victorious and gallant chief Two steamers, eight schooners, 
the water-batteries, and a considerable quantity of cotton, were the prizes of the 
naval portion of the expedition, under the command of Captain S. C. Eowan. 
The victory was complete, and the intelligence was received with heartfelt joy 
throughout the North. Some anxiety had been felt lest a part of the rebel army, 
which had evacuated Manassas the week previous, should march into North 
Carolina, and intercept Burnside on his way. The enthusiasm was heightened 
by the relief which his success had given, and the assurance of his safety, which 
was thus placed beyond question. 

Continued victory seemed to wait upon his steps. General Burnside is a 
man who knows how to improve his successes ; and as soon as Newbern had 
been reduced, an expedition was sent to Washington, to occupy that place. 
Beaufort also became an object for the general's victorious arms ; and on Sun- 
day, March 23d, General Parke's brigade peaceably took possession of More- 
head City, opposite that town. Fort Macon was immediately summoned, and, 
upon the refusal of the officer in command to surrender, measures were imme- 
diately taken to foi-ce a capitulation. General Burnside repaired to the scene of 



334 AMBROSE EVEKETT BURXSIDE. 

operations, that he might personally superintend the investment of the place. 
Meanwhile, the enemy's forces were concentrating at Goldsborough and Kings- 
ton, threatening the recajjture of Newbern. General Burnside did not allow his 
vigilance to relax in guarding the approaches to either place; and, leaving a 
sufficient force at Beaufort, he hastened back to Newbern, to foVtify that impor- 
tant jDosition. Eveiy arrangement was made to give the foe a warm reception. 

During the time General McClellau was pressed for want of reeenforceraents 
at Harrison's Landing, General Burnside was directed to take all the available 
force he could spare, and form a junction with the army of the Potomac, which 
he did on the eighth of July. In a consultation he had with General McClellan, 
he advised bringing away more troops from IS'orth-Carolina, and, in fact, with- 
drawing all the Union forces from that department ; but after a military confer- 
ence between Generals Halleck, McClellan, and Burnside, the latter returned to 
his headquarters at Fortress Monroe, and on the second of August, his command 
embarked for Acquia Creek, where it arrived at night of tlie third. On the sixth, 
General Burnside destroyed a portion of the railroad near Fredericksburgh, Va., 
and also a large quantity of stores en route for the rebel army. A few days 
afterward, he issued a general order strictly prohibiting the seizui-e of private 
property by unauthorized parties, and on the twenty-sixth, he formally I'elin- 
quished the command of the dejiartment of North-Carolina, dating his farewell 
order from Fredericksburgh. He was now attached to the army of the Potomac, 
and after the battle of South-Mountain pursued the retreating enemy on the 
Boonsboro road. In the battle of Antietam, he commanded the left wing, but 
could only hold his ground without advancing. On the twenty-seventh of Octo- 
ber, General Burnside's wing of the army crossed the Potomac, and moved down 
along the east side of the Blue Eidge in Virginia, and on the thirtieth formed a 
junction with the forces under General Sigel, operating in the vicinity of Ma- 
nassas Junction, Va. A week later, General McClellan was relieved from com- 
mand of the army of the Potomac, and Major-General Burnside appointed in his 
place. At this time, November seventh, 1862, the army was on the south side 
of the Potomac, with instructioris to pursue General Lee by a flank march on the 
interior line to Eichmoud. On reaching Warrenton, however, General Burnside 
proposed to give up this pursuit of Lee's army, and to move down the north side 
of the Eappahannock to Falmouth, establishing a new base of supplies at Acquia 
Creek. This change was not according to what the War Office desired, but it was 
allowed, with slight modification. He was to cross his army by the fords of the 
Ujjper Eajjpahannock, and then move down and seize the heights of Fredericks- 
burgh. 

General Burnside commenced his movement from Warrenton, on the fif- 
teenth of November, his advance reaching Falmouth on the twentieth, and very 
shortly afterward the rebel army under General Lee had strongly intrenched the 



AMBROSE EVERETT BURNSIDE. 335 

heights ; but the Union troops managed to effect a passage across the river, on 
the eleventh of December, without serious opposition. Then began the battle of 
Freclericksburgh, continuing until the fifteenth, and which ended by the with- 
drawal of our forces on that day, after suffering terrible losses. It was a defeat 
that brought much animadversion upon the authorities, as well as upon General 
Burnside, until the latter publicly took the entire blame by asserting that he 
alone was responsible, having acted against the opinions of the President, the 
Secretary of War, and General Halleck. 

On the twenty-fifth of January, 1863, General Burnside was relieved from 
his command, but was not long without duty. In March, he was appointed to 
the department of Ohio, and assumed command on the third of April. He there 
attended to the several duties that devolved upon him, and despatched his cav- 
alry and portions of the infantry in various directions to embarrass and destroy 
the enemy, but owing to the necessity for all spare troops being in the West, 
where important operations were going on, he was for several months almost 
stationary. On the fifteenth of July, he deeme|l it necessary to declare martial 
law, and some time later, to suppress two newspapers circulating in his district 

General Burnside's preparations for an active campaign were somewhat de- 
layed by the detachment of the Ninth anny corps to reenforce General Grant M 
Vicksburgh. The necessity, however, of cooperating with the movements of 
General Rosecrans, compelled him to take the field without waiting the return 
of this corps. Accordingly, he marched by three different routes toward Knox- 
ville, occupying Cumberland Gap, Kingston, and other places, and finally forced 
the rebel garrison at Knoxville to surrender, on the ninth of September. A 
column of cavalry was, at the same time, sent up the valley to drive the enemy 
back over the Virginia line. The main body of the army was now ordered t6 
concentrate on the Tennessee River, so as to connect with General Rosecrans, 
the enemy by some skilful combinations having been driven out of East-Ten- 
nessee. Circumstances, however, prevented this junction. General Burnside 
continued in the upper valley, and after the battle of Chickamauga, the rebels 
]mshed forward a column to threaten his position at Loudon. There a contest 
ensued for several hours, and General Burnside then withdrew to Knoxville, 
which be immediately fortified. The enemy followed up, and commenced a siege 
on the seventeenth of November. A constant fire was kept up on the lines of 
the national forces, until the twenty-eighth, when an attack was proposed by the 
rebels on a small fort mounting six guns, upon a hill near the town, and com- 
manding the approaches to it on that side the river. The attack was made fierce- 
ly, but the rebels were repulsed with severe loss. Meantime the force of General 
Burnside was closely pressed, and provisions became so scarce that his troops 
Avere put on half-rations of bread ; but on the third of December the cavalry of 
General Sherman, in advance of other forces, came to his relief, and the rebels 



336 AMBROSE EVERETT BTJR'XSIDE. 

immediately raised the siege and retreated. Subsequently, at liis own request, 
General Burnside was relieved of his command by General Foster. 

When the army of the Potomac was reorganized. General Burnside was 
again placed in command, with the Ninth army corps under his orders. He 
shared in all the severe battles that followed, meeting with several narrow 
escapes, and accompanying the army in its movements to Petersburgh, the 
history of which belongs to the j^resent day. 

General Burnside's characteristics are finely illustrated in every act of his 
career. He is a man of eminent truthfulness and sincerity. Thoroughly beyond 
deceit or intrigue, above all jealousy or meanness, open-hearted as the day, and 
generous even to a fault, his genuine manhood shines through every part of his 
life. "With a quick sense of honor, and the most conscientious regard for truth, 
he puts to shame all baseness and falsehood. The ways of his life never ran 
" in the corrupted currents" of the world, but always flow from the purest pur- 
poses to the truest results. With a quick perception of character, he is an adept 
in the difficult art of governing.* He attracts and attaches a\\ who approach him 
by the powerful magnetism of the simjjlicity of his character and the manliness 
of his bearing. He has a gentle heart, a clear mind, a guileless conscience, and 
a Drave soul. A surpassing devotion to duty makes him superior to a wrongful 
intention. An unwearied energy gives vigor to his acts. An unswerving trast 
in God adorns his private and public life. Prudent without timidity, brave 
without rashness, religious without pretence, and wholly engaged in the great 
cause which has enlisted his powers. General Burnside nobly vmites the best 
qualities of a soldier and a man. 

In the care of his trooiDS, in tender solicitude and untiring labors for their 
welflire, he is unsurpassed. When in command of his regiment, his sole thought 
seemed to be for the benefit of the men intrusted to his guidance. He gave a 
personal attention to all their needs. Always accessible to the humblest private 
in the ranks, he heard with unexampled jjatience the most trivial request or 
complaint, and replied to each with the necessary gi-ave rebuke, the wise counsel, 
or the hopeful encouragement. In the camp he was a daily visitant to the hos- 
pital, the commissariat, the quarters of the men, that he might know, by his own 
inspection, the condition and necessities of all. On the road, he always marched 
on foot, that he might measure the endurance of his men by his own, and inspirit 
them by his example. In the bivouac, his own quarters were the last to be se- 
lected and the last to be prepared. In the field, his beaiing was distinguished for 
coolness, courage, and self possession, while his disijositions for battle insured the 
utmost efficiency of his command. He has carried these qualities to his higher 
positions ; and thus, by their exercise, he awakens the sincerest enthusiasm, and 
inspires the most implicit confidence of his soldiers. From the lowest to the 
highest 'there is but one opinion and one voice. 




2llg * "by- A. H . RiCcVi e 



HON. EDWIN M. STANTON. 



EDWI]^ M. STAN"TON. 

EDWIN M. STANTON was bom at Steubenville, Ohio, about the year 1817. 
After graduating at Kenyon College, he applied himself diligently to the 
study of law in Steubenville, and rapidly rose to distinction in his profession, 
which he practised for several years in Ohio. In 1848 he removed to Pittsburgh, 
Pa., where his energy and excellence as a lawyer soon won for him an exalted 
position. He here conducted, with signal success, the case involving the Wheel- 
ing Bridge controversy, wherein, for the first time, the brilliancy of his talents 
received a national recognition. 

With the instinct of a lawyer and the zeal . of an American, he had early 
turned his attention to j^olitics. Though educated as a Whig, he began his 
career as an ultra Democrat ; and there were few of the leading issues of the day 
wherein the weight of his opinion did not leave a legible impress. At the 
commencement of President Buohanan's administra^on, he was selected to repre- 
sent the Government in an important land case in California. Here again he was 
successful. He then commenced to practise law at the national capital, and 
shortly afterward received the appointment'Of Attorney-General. 

At the close of Mr. Buchanan's term of office, Mr. Stanton withdrew to pri- 
vate life and the practice of his profession in the State of Pennsylvania ; whence, 
however, at the opening of the battle-year of 1862, he was appointed by Mr. Lin- 
coln to supersede Mr. Cameron as Secretary of War. 

His nomination to this important office was unanimously hailed as a presage 
of vigor and success by the war-favoring Democratic press. The old partisan lines 
had remained salient until now, when the new appointment was received as an 
indication that at last the blatant rebellion was to become acquainted with that 
desideratum of freedom-lovers, a united North. So soon as his appointment was 
confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Stanton grasped the reins of his difficult trust with 
characteristic vigor. 

But one of his primary measures was inspired by humanity, evinced in the 
issue of the following : 

" This Department recognizes as the first of its duties to take measures for 
the relief of the brave men who, having imperilled their lives in the military 
service of the Government, are now prisoners and captives. It is, therefore, 



388 EDWIN H. STANTON. • 

ordered, that two Commissioners be appointed to visit the city of Richmond, iu 
Virginia, and wherever else prisoners belonging to the army of the United States 
may be held, and there take such measures as may be needful to provide for the 
wants and contribate to the comfort of such prisoners, at the expense of the 
United States, and to such extent as may be permitted by the authorities under 
whom such jjrisoners are held." 

Under this Order, the Rev. Bishoji Ames and the lion. Hamilton Fish were 
appointed as Commissioners. 

The splendid success of Fort Donelson closed the winter which had so 
gloomily set in, and the victorious carnage of Shiloh opened the spring, while the 
annual swallows were winging northward like harbingers of peace. And in 
April, 1862, the Secretary of War ordered that the chaplains of every regiment in 
the armies of the United States should, on " the first Sunday after receipt of the 
Order, give thanks to the Almighty for the great victories achieved by our armies, 
and invoking the continuance of his aid." 

He also tendered the thanks and congratulations of the Department to Major- 
General Halleck, and other generals, and to the armies under their command, for 
their gallant and meritorious services. 

The acts of Secretary Stanton are matters of history which must be freshly 
and indelibly fixed in the minds of his fellow-countrymen. And yet they will 
appear more vividly when, the scroll whereon they are inscribed is further 
removed from our inspection ; for if the hues of the colorist are brightest when 
fresh, the yellowing hand of time alone can accord to them that golden tone which 
bespeaks the impress of the master-hand. But some of the more important meas- 
ures of our subject may be fittingly introduced or sketched, as bearing strongly 
upon the progress of events. 

Toward the close of the autumn of 1863, we seemed threatened with hostili- 
ties in a quarter unexpectedly remote from that to which we had bent om* ears 
for the boom of rebel guns. A large number of rebel prisoners were then, as 
now, confined on Johnson's Island, Lake Erie. A conspiracy, or supposed con- 
spiracy, among them, came to light, 'in which it appeared that schemes were in 
operation, in British America, having for their object the forcible release of these 
jirisoners, and the destruction of Ogdensburgh and Buffalo. The information was 
derived from the Governor-General of Canada, through Lord Lyons, the British 
Minister at Washington. Secretary Stanton promptly advised the threatened 
cities and the other lake ports of the information received. While expressing the 
intention of the Government to use every exertion in case of an attack from Can- 
ada, he did not neglect to recommend and urge the utmost activity and vigilance 
on the part of the local authorities, at the same time suggesting a course of rigid 
inspection witli regard to the character of all departing and incoming vessels. 



EDWIN M. STAXTON. 339 

Tf our Northern border was really saved from rebel vengeance on tliis occa- 
sion, much of tlie credit must be apportioned to tbe promptitude of our vigilant 
Secretary of War. 

The peci\lations of army contractors next engaged his attention. Swindlers 
on a grand scale usually have a much better chance than their humbler brethren 
of the thimble-rig and special-confidence school ; but in this instance, one of the 
former gentlemen, who had been amusing himself by selling adulterated coffee to 
the Government, was retired to the lonely precincts of the Albany Penitentiary. 
A similar energy was displayed by the Secretary in almost every thing relating 
to his Department. 

In his Annual Eeport for the year 1863, the courage, devotion, patriotism, 
and brilliant achievements of the National armies are feelingly eulogized. As to 
the war-levying resources of the country, whereas, " at the beginning of the war," 
he remarks, "we were compelled to rely upon foreign countries for the supply of 
nearly all our arms and munitions, now all these things are manufactured at 
home, and we are independent of foreign countries, not only for the manufacture, 
but also for the materials of which they, are composed." 

Another citation — that respecting the Military Telegraph — deserves to be 
made. He says : 

" On the first day of July, 1862, there were three thousand five hundred and 
seventy-one miles of land and submarine lines in working order. During the 
fiscal year, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-five miles of land and subma- 
rine line were constructed, making the total number of miles of land and subma- 
rine military telegraph lines in operation during the year, five thousand three 
hundred and twenty-sis, being a length of line sufficient to girdle more than one 
fifth of the circumference of the globe. By close estimate, it appears that at least 
one million two hundred thousand telegrams have been sent and received over 
the military lines in operation du.ring the fiscal year ending June, 1863, being at 
the rate of about three thousand per diem. These messages varied in length 
from ten to one thousand words and upward, and generally were of an urgent or 
important character." 

Mr. Stanton still presides at the head of the War Department. At the open- 
ing of the present year, (1864,) some efforts were made to have him removed from 
the stormy helm he has grasped so firmly. Yery probably the motive of these 
efforts was wholly partisan. But few, however, even of the opponents of Mr. 
Stanton can truthfully withhold from him that resjject which is due to prompt- 
ness of decision, vigor of deed, and probity of purpose. And, at the present 
writing, he is still, very probably, a popular man. 



JOSEPH HOOKEE. 

JOSEPH HOOKER was bom in 1815, in HacUey, Massacliusetts, and is a 
lineal descendant of Thomas Hooker, the Puritan pioneer who, in 1636, led 
a band of one hundred settlers through a dense wilderness to found the city of 
Hartford and the colony of Connecticut. 

His mother, whose maiden name was Seymour, was of Puritan stock also, so 
that the iron will, unbending fortitude, and bold love of danger and adventure, 
which characterize the p-esent Major-General, may all be distinctly traced to the 
genuine Puritan blood that flows in his veins. 

General Hooker manifested fi'om childhood a fondness for study, which was 
first cultivated at the Hopkins Academy, in his native town, and afterward at the 
Military Academy at West-Point, where he was aAiiitted as a cadet in his eigh- 
teenth year, and graduated in 1837, ranking twenty-eighth in a class of fifty-one 
members. He was at once appointed Second Lieutenant in the First artillery, 
and in November, 1838, was promoted to First Lieutenant in the same regiment. 
In 1841, Lieutenant Hooker was appointed Adjutant at the Military Academy, 
and the same year Adjutant of his regiment, which position he held until 1846. 
During the Mexican war, Lieutenant Hooker served for some time with great 
distinction on General Scott's staff, as Assistant Adjutant-General, receiving for 
meritorious conduct the successive brevets of Captain, Major, and Lieutenant- 
Colonel. On the twenty-ninth of October, 1848, he was appointed Cajjtain of the 
First regiment of artillery, and on the same day resigned his regimental position, 
retaining, however, his position as Assistant Adjutant-General with the rank of 
Lieutenant-Colonel. At the close of "the war he was ordered to duty in Cali- 
fornia. 

In 1853, he resigned his position as Assistant Adjutant-General, and pur- 
chased a farm in Sonoma County, California, where he remained till 1855, super- 
intending in that year the construction of the national road from California to 
Oregon, a duty in which he was engaged for a jDcriod of two j^ears. 

At the breaking out of the rebellion. Colonel Hooker sailed for the Atlantic 
coast, reaching New- York early in May, 1861. His services being immediately 
offered to the Government, he was commissioned a Brigadier-General of volun- 
teers on the seventeenth of IMay, having his appointment accredited to California. 




MAJ. GEN. JOSEPH HOOIvER. 



JOSEPH HOOKER. 341 

The brigade to which he was assigned was composed of the First and Eleventh 
Massachusetts, the Second N"ew-Hampshire, and the Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania 
regiments, all of which became afterward distinguished for cool daring and patient 
endurance. General Hooker was first assigned to the command of General Dix, 
in the Department of Annapolis, but was subsequently transferred to General Mc- 
Clellan's army, and assigned the duty of reducing to subordination the rebellious 
counties of Prince George and Charles in Maryland. For the accomplishment of 
this purpose, General Hooker was placed in command of a division, with which 
he occupied the district withoixt loss of life, disarmed the secessionists, took pos- 
session of the entire peninsula of Maryland, and completely broke up for the time 
all communication by way of Chesapeake Bay between Baltimore and the South- 
ern States. 

When the army of the Potomac went to the Peninsula, General Hooker com- 
manded a division in General Heintzelman's corps, which passed through much 
hard service and lost heavily by sickness and picket-duty in the operations before 
Yorktown. In the pursuit of the rebels which followed the evacuation of that 
town. General Hooker's division overtook their rear-guard as they were entering 
Williamsburgh on the fifth of May, 1862, when a most sanguinary battle ensued, 
lasting all day, and resulting in the retreat of the rebels during the night. 

General Hooker participated in the battle of Seven Pines and the defeat of 
the enemy on the first of June, 1862. Being ordered on the second of June to 
make a reconnoissance beyond the camp, he apjDroached with his division to with- 
in less than four miles of Richmond without serious loss. On the twenty-seventh 
of June was fought the battle of Gaines's Mills, in the course of which Generals 
Hooker and Kearny^ the two division commanders of Heintzelman's corps, were 
sent from the left wing of the main army to the assistance of General Porter, 
whose men had met with a repulse. Though unable wholly to turn the tide of 
battle, they succeeded in checking the pursuit by covering the rear of the retreat- 
ing forces, and giving time to the exhausted troops to withdraw in good order 
from the field. From this time till its participation in the battle of Glendale, on 
the thirtieth of June, General Hooker's division saw but little fighting. On the 
first of July, however, it took part in the bloody struggle of Malvern Hill, the 
crowning victory of the "Seven Days' Contest." 

On the fourth of July, 1862, "Fighting Joe Hooker," as he was familiarly 
known by the soldiers, was commissioned Major-General of volunteers, and two 
days after was ordered to make a reconnoissance in force to- Malvern Hill, which, 
after hard fighting, was finally gained. 

These transactions were followed by the recall of the main army to Harri- 
son's Landing on the James, when it remained under orders in August to join the 
army of Virginia under Pope, and repel the rebel advance. 



342 JOSEPH HOOKER. 

On tlie twenty-seventli of August, 1862, Hooker's division liad a severe -figlit 
with Ewell's force at Kettle Eun, Virginia, winning tlie day and inflicting a lieavy 
loss on the rebels. It participated, on the twenty-ninth and thirtieth, in the bat- 
tles of Centreville and Gainesville ; and, on the first of September, in the short 
and decisive battle of Chantilly, after which General Hooker was placed in com- 
mand of General McDowell's corps. 

In the battle of South-Mountain, which occurred on the fourteenth of Sep- 
tember, General Hooker commanded the right wing of the Federal army, and gal- 
lantly succeeded in driving the enemy from their position and over the summit 
of the mountain in great confusion. He held the same command at the battle of 
Antietam, which was foi;ght three days after, and the active part his corps took in 
this engagement is attested by the fact that two thousand six hundred and nine- 
teen of its numbers were reported as killed, wounded, or missing. General Hooker 
himself being among the wounded. For the distinguished bravery and skill he 
displayed on this memorable occasion, he was a^apointed Brigadier-General in the 
regular army, and received the special thanks of the President for his gallantry. 
The wound he had received compelling him to leave his command for a short 
time. General Hooker disapiaeared from participation in military affairs till as- 
signed the command of one of the divisions of the army of the Potomac by Gene- 
ral Bumside, who had recently been appointed its commander-in-chief General 
Hooker was placed in command of the centre. Generals Sumner and Franklin 
commanding the other two divisions. His command consisted of the divisions of 
Generals Birney, Sickles, Humphrey, GriflSu, and S3'kes, the last being a division 
of regulars. In the disastrous battle of Fredericksburgh, Hooker's command was 
held in reserve till the afternoon of Saturday, December the thirteenth, when 
three of his divisions, comprising General Butterfield's corps, were ordered to 
supjDort General Sumner's divisions. Generals Humphrey and Griffin were en- 
gaged for several hours, suffering heavy loss, till finally the -withdrawal of the 
National forces to the northern shore of the Rappahannock was ordered, when 
Hooker's entire division was chosen to cover the rear. Soon "after this battle, 
General Burnside resigned the command of the army of the Potomac, and General 
Hooker was appointed his successor. 

Under its new commander the army was thoroughly reorganized and purged 
of many worthless and discontented officers. The winter passed without any 
severe fighting. In the latter jDart of Api-il, however, Genei'al Hooker made an 
advance, succeeded in crossing the Eappahannock above Fredericksburgh, and 
reached Chancellorsville, a point in the enemy' s rear. The rebels were not un- 
pi'epared. By a rapid movement on Saturday, May second, 1863, " Stonewall " 
Jackson hurled his entire corps of forty thousand men upon Hooker's extreme right, 
which was composed of the Eleventh army corps, under General Howard. After 



JOSEPH HOOKER. 343 

terrific figlitiBg, the Union lines were broken, and the right driven back upon the 
centre. -The contest was renewed the following day, but with no decisive result. 
On Monday all was quiet in the hostile camps, and on Tuesday General Hooker 
abruptly withdi-ew his whole force, though the greater part of it had not been 
engaged. 

In the early part of June, two rather severe cavalry engagements took place 
at Brandy and Eappahannock Stations, the consequence of Tsiiich was the bold 
advance of General Lee northward through the Shenandoah Valley. About the 
twelfth of June, he crossed the Potomac, followed by General Hooker on the 
south side of the river, in order to protect the National capital. Before any thing 
of special moment had occurred. Hooker was relieved on the; twenty-eighth of June 
of the command of the army of the Potomac, and General George G. Meade, one 
of his corps commanders, appointed in his stead. 

■ For some months succeeding this event General Hooker remained without 
a command, but about the first of October was assigned the command of the 
Eleventh and Twelfth coi'ps, which were sent from the anny of the Potomac to 
reenforce General Eosecrans after the battle of the Chickamauga. On the twentj'- 
eighth of October, he succeeded in capturing a strong position of the rebels on 
Lookout Mountain, which partially commanded Chattanooga, and on the follow- 
ing night had a severe battle at Wauhatchee, defeating and routing the enemy 
with heavy loss. Upon the appointment of Genei-al Grant to succeed General 
Eosecrans in the command of the National forces in the South-West, the army of 
the Cumberland, under General Thomas, together with the army of the Ohio, 
tinder General Sherman, and the forces under General Hooker were merged into 
one grand army, for more effectual operations against the enemy then in front of 
General Grant. 

On the twenty-third of November, General Grant commenced a forward 
movement against the enemy in three columns. His left was under General Sher- 
man, the centre under General Thomas, while Hooker commanded on the right. 
The column under General Thomas was the only one engaged the first day ; on 
the twenty-fourth, however, the battle was renewed with increased vigor, and all 
three columns took part in the fight. General Hooker's position on the right 
made it necessary for him to move against works that the enemy had erected with 
great labor on the north end of Lookout Mountain. Moving up the steep sides 
of the mountain, he ascended above the region of cloud-land, and there, fighting 
like the gods of mythology, with the heavy vapors rolling between his forces and 
the valley below, attacked the enemy's position, earned it by storm, annihilated 
the rebel left, and made success at that point secure. The troops in the valley 
before Chattanooga were equally successful, and victory sat triumphant on tlie 
banners of the Union. In a congratulatory letter written by President Lincoln to 



344 



JOSEPH HOOKER. 



General Grant, after the battle, General Hooker and his command were the subject 
of special mention. 

la person, General Hooker is tall, finely proportioned, and of commanding 
presence. His bold and fearless nature amounts almost to recklessness in the in- 
dLfferent exposure of his own life on the field of battle. His appearance among 
his troops is electrifying in its effect, stimulating their ardor and courage, and 
winning by his gracious manner their attachment and fidelity. 




■^''S''VAHRitcbie 



CoM..rc)FiN RODGKRS. 



JOHI^ EODGEES. 

CAPTAIN JOHN" RODGERS is a native of Maryland, and is the son of 
Commodore Rodgers, so well known in connection with the distinguished 
deeds of the American navy during its early existence. John Rodgers, the son, 
had all the taste of his father for the sea, and, in 1828, when very young, entered 
the navy, where he was soon noticed for his ability and zeal. He passed through 
the usual grades of Midshipman and Lieutenant with great credit to himself, and, 
for two years, was emjDloyed on the Coast Survey, and in boat service against the 
Seminole Indians. 

In 1852, he was appointed second in command of the Exploring Expedition 
sent to Behring Strait, under Captain (now Commodore) Ringgold, and when that 
officer was invalided home. Lieutenant Rodgers took his post, carrying the Vin- 
cennes farther into the Arctic Regions in that direction, than any vessel had gone 
before. 

In 1856, he returned, and having been appointed a Commander during hi^ 
absence, now occupied himself in preparing the charts and i-eport of his expe- 
dition. He was thus engaged, with the exception of a short interval in 1858, 
when he commanded the "Water "W"itch in the Gulf, xmtil the rebellion broke out, 
when he immediately applied for active service, and was sent with other officers 
to Norfolk Navy- Yard, where he was assigned to the difficult and dangerous duty 
of blowing up the drj^ dock. This was done with extreme hazard to himself and 
Captain (now General) "Wright of the Engineers, who, with only one sailor in 
attendance, remained to perform the work. They were not, however, fortunate 
enough to escape. They had reached the harbor, and were in a small boat pulling 
away, when a fire of musketry from the shore compelled them to surrender, and 
they were taken prisoners, but soon afterward released. 

His next appointment was to superintend the creating a naval force on the 
"Western rivers, and here his zeal and activity were displayed to the highest 
degree. A flotilla of gunboats, and several iron-clads were soon in readiness, and 
ultimately proved of great service in the naval operations that took place. But, 
owing to some misunderstanding with General Fremont, then in military command 
of that department, Commander Rodgers was relieved by Captain (afterward Ad- 
miral) Foote. 



346 JOHNRODGERS. 

On tlie return of Commander Rodgers, lie was ajDpointed to one of tlie vessels 
attached to tlie Port Eoyal Expedition, and sailed in the Flag-ship Wabash which 
left Hampton Roads on the twenty-ninth of October, 1861, and, after a severe 
storm, anchored off the bar of Port Royal Harbor on the fourth of November. 
Commander Rodgers was then despatched in the gunboat Octorara to make a 
reconnoissance, which was successfully done ; and, when, on the seventh. Fort 
"Walker on Hilton Head was attacked by the Wabash and other ships of the fleet, 
he went on shore after the enemy's guns were silenced, and, finding the place 
vacated, he hoisted the Union flag, the first time it was waved on the rebel soil of 
South-Carolina. In the modest report of this action given by Commander Rod- 
gers in a letter, lie says : " Commodore Du Pont had kindly made me his aid. 
I stood by him, and I did little things which I suppose gained me credit. So 
when a boat was sent on shore to ask whether they had surrendered, I was sent. 
I carried the -Stars and Stripes. I found the ramparts utterly desolate, and I 
jDlanted the American flag on those ramparts with my own hands — first to take 
possession, in the majesty of the United States, of the rebel soil of South- 
Carolina." 

After this. Commander Rodgers took command of the "Flag" steamer, and 
proceeded to Savannah River for the purpose of examining it, and ascertaining 
the condition of afiairs on Tybee Island. In this he was highly successful. The 
enemy had abandoned the place, and here, also for the first time, the Union flag 
■jras hoisted in rebel Georgia. Many night and boat expeditions, on reconnois- 
sance, followed, under Commander Rodgers's personal inspection, and the inform- 
ation he gained was of material assistance to General Gillmore in the after reduc- 
tion of Fort Pulaski. 

The Flag, needing some repairs, was now ordered North, but Commander 
Rodgers, desiring active service, requested and obtained an appointment to com- 
mand the gunboat flotilla on James River, Va., during General McClellan's Penin- 
sula campaign. On May the fifteenth, on board his flag-ship the Galena, and in 
company with others of his fleet, he attacked Fort Darling, without success, but 
his whole operations were so serviceable to the Union cause, that General McClel- 
lan in his despatches gave him especial credit. 

Commander Rodgers was, after this, appointed to the Weehawken, and being 
desirous of testing her qualities at sea, he boldly stood out during a heavy gale, 
and safely brought his vessel to an anchor in Hampton Roads. He thence proceeded 
to join the iron-clad fleet in Charleston Roads, and on the seventh of April, 1863, 
led the van in the attack upon Fort Sumter. At half-past twelve the fleet began 
to mov^e, the Weehawken having a pioneer raft attached to her bows for the pur- 
pose of exploding torpedoes and clearing away obstructions, but it soon got de- 
ranged and caused some delay. Finally, progress was made, and Fort Morris 



JOHN RODGERS. 347 

passed in silence, but on coming near Fort Sumter, tlie guns on every battery 
around, instantly opened fire. Captain Eodgers, however, nobly stood in his 
position until obstructions were encountered of so formidable a nature, that he 
deemed it best to move where lie could better attack. The other ships followed, 
and some confusion arose in consequence of the narrowness of the channel, and 
the tides. But the fight was continued until Admiral Du Pont considered it 
necessary to draw the vessels off. 

With reference to this attack. General Hunter, who was on board a transjiort 
with some of his troops to assist, says in a letter to the Admiral : " I confess 
when the Weehawken first run under Sumter's guns, receiving the casemate and 
barbette broadsides simultaneously with the similar broadsides from Fort Moul- _ 
trie, and all the other works within range, I fairly held my breath until the smoke 
had cleared away, not expecting to see a vestige of the little vessel which had pro- 
voked such an attack." 

In the month of June, 18G3, Admiral Du Pont, having reason to believe that 
the Atlanta and other rebel ii'on-clads at Savannah were about to enter Warsaw 
Sound by Wilmington River, for the purpose of attacking the blockading vessels 
there and in the sounds further south, despatched Captain Eodgers and Com- 
mander Downes from Port Royal Harbor for information. Captain Eodgers 
departed on his errand, and on the morning of the seventeenth he discovered an 
iron-clad vessel in the mouth of Wilmington River ; also two other steamers, one 
a side-wheel and the other a propeller. He immediately Ijeat to quarters, and 
commenced clearing the ship for action. In ten minutes the cable was 
slipped, and his vessel under steam, and shortly afterward heading direct for 
the iron-clad, which had the rebel flag flying. The enemy was lying across the 
channel, waiting the attack ; and Captain Eodgers commenced firing, at the dis- 
tance of three hundred yards. In a quarter of an hour the enemy hauled down 
his colors, and hoisted the white flag, sending a boat on board the Weeliawken to 
say that the Atlanta had surrendered. She was then aground on a sand-spit, but 
jiltimately got off" ■ and brought into Port Eoyal harbor. She had a,complement 
of twenty-one oflicers, and one hundred and twenty-four men, including twenty- 
eight marines. 

With reference to this affair. Admiral Du Pont in his report says : " The 
department will notice in this event how well Captain Eodgers has sustained his 
distinguished reputation, and added to the list of brilliant services which he has 
rendered to tlie country during the rebellion." In replying to this, Secretary 
Welles sent an oflicial communication also to Captain Eodgers, wherein he ex- 
presses "unaffected pleasure in congratulating him upon the result." He adds: 
" In fifteen minutes, and with five shots, you overpowered and captured a formi- 
dable steamer." He then refers to the various services of Captain Eodgers, and 



348 JOHN RODGERS. 

• 

says : " All this is proof of a skill and courage and devotion to the country and 

the cause of the Union, regardless of self, that cannot be permitted to pass unre- 
warded. To your heroic daring and persistent moral courage, beyond that of 
any other individual, is the country indebted for the development, under trying 
and varied circumstances on the ocean, under fire from enormous batteries on 
land, and in successful encounter with a formidable antagonist, of the capabili- 
ties and qualities of attack and resistance of the monitor class of vessels, and 
their heavy armament. For these heroic and serviceable acts I have presented 
your name to the President, requesting him to recommend that Congress give you 
a vote«of thanks, in order that you may be advanced to the grade of Commodore 
- in the American navy." 

Subsequently Captain Rodgers was appointed to the command of the iron-clad 
Dictator. 




-^^'br-Vri B-.tca'.i 



COM. C. H. DAVIS. 



CHARLES HEITEY DATIS. 

REAR-ADMIRAL C. H. DAVIS entered the United States naval service 
from his native State of Massachusetts, on the twelfth of August, 1823. 
He was made a lieutenant on the third of March, 1831. In 1835, he was at- 
tached to the sloop-of war Vincennes, then in the Pacific; and two years later, 
we find him assigned to the razee Indejjendence, on special duty. 

His next appointment was as chief of a hydrographic party on the coast 
survey. He remained in this jDosition from 1812 to 1819, but for soma years 
later, was more 6v less connected with this service. In 1851, an appropriation 
was made by the Government 'for the improvement of Charleston harbor, and at 
the request of South-Carolina, a commission of navy and army officers was ap- 
pointed to superintend the work in hand. Lieutenant Davis was selected as a 
member of the comraissiou, in whicli duty he was actively engaged for three or 
four years. 

On the twelfth of June, 1854, he was made a commander, and found special 
duty, for the two following years, as Superintendent of the Na,utical Almanac, at 
Cambridge, Mass. 

In 1857, he was placed in command of the sloop-of-war St. Mary's, then at- 
tached to the Pacific squadron. Soon after entering upon his new duties, while 
stationed on the Nicaragua coast. Commander Davis interposed to save from 
Central American vengeance the notorious fillibuster William Walker. That 
worthy, after several years of desultory contest, had been driven to the wall at 
Eivas, and was there compelled to surrender, with the remnant of his followers — 
some two hundred in number — on the first of May, 1857. Commander Davis 
successfully interposed and brought off Walker, with sixteen of his men, landing 
him at Panama unharmed. 

Commander Davis remained in command of the St. Mary's until Februaiy, 
1859, when he was relieved, and resumed the superintendence of the Almanac. 

The outbreak of the rebellion found him thus peacefully employed. But he 
immediately resumed active service, being appointed to the Wabash, as Fleet- 
Captain of the South- Atlantic Blockading Squadi-on under Commodore Du Pout. 
His experience and skill were soon brought into requisition in this service. 

The cooperating land forces, under General T. W. Sherman, which had 
cleared from Hampton Roads on the twenty-ninth of October, having arrived at 



350 CHARLES HENRY DAVIS. 

the rendezvous off Hilton Head, S. C, tlie bombardment of tlie rebel forts at tliat 
point was begun and carried to a glorious termination on the seventh of Novem- 
ber — Davis's vessel, the flag-ship Wabash, taking the lead in that series of stormy 
cii'clings, whose iron hail struck terror to the rebel cause. 

But, before the commencement of the bombardment, the genius of Captain 
Davis had been called into important service. All the buoys and other indica- 
tions of the harbor channel having been removed by the rebels. Captain Davis 
was selected, in connection with Mr. Boutelle, to re-mark the channel, while the 
fleet lay at anchor outside. The experience and ability of Captain Davis speedily 
accomJ)lished this difficult duty. It was in the morning when he began, and by 
three o'clock p.m., the channel had been found, duly marked, and a clear passage 
opened for the fleet. 

When at last our battle-torn standard floated above the strong earthworks of 
Fort Walker and Fort Beauregard, Captain Davis must have contemplated with 
peculiar satisfaction the extent of the rich prize — the solid bastions, the long 
coast-guns, etc. — to whose capture his own services had so strikingly contributed. 

Shortly after the reduction of these strongholds, Captain Davis was com- 
missioned by his superior to undertake, not exactly the reduction, but the nulli- 
fication, of a still more formidable rebel port. In order to increase the efficiency 
of the blockade by placing obstructions in the channel-ways leading to the harbor 
of Charleston, S. C, the most important of the rebel ports, a fleet of some twenty 
or thirty old whalers and other vessels was purchased and heavily laden with 
stone, the intention being to sink them at the entrance of the harbor, which it 
was hoped would effectually keep blockade-runners at a distance. The plan was 
matured. The vessels wei'e purchased, laden, and the first detachment arrived off 
Charleston Harbor on the twentieth of December, 1861. As it was considered 
necessary that the submersion of the " stone fleet," as it was called, should be 
conducted by one thoroughly acquainted with the intricacies of the harbor chan- 
nel, and endowed with that ability and skill which should warrant a successful 
performance of the enterprise. Captain Davis was selected as one perfectly quali- 
fied for its superintendence. Happily he had, but a few years before, as alreadj'- 
stated, been employed on special duty of a scientific nature, at that very harbor ; 
and singularly enough — retributively, we might almost say — he had been thus 
engaged at the desire of the authorities of Charleston itself It may not be alto- 
gether well to rejoice at the misfortunes of our enemies, but it does afford a cer- 
tain complacency at times to see the devil burn himself with his own brimstone. 
With what different emotions did the Charleston " chivalry " behold approaching 
their harbor the Yankee sailor whom they had honored in by-gone days ! 

Quitting the Wabash, Captain Davis hoisted his pennant on the Cahawlxa 
steamship, and sailed from Port Royal on the seventeenth of December. In two 



CHARLES HENRY DAVIS. 351 

days he arrived off Charleston, and immediately proceeded to place the " stone 
fleet " in j^roper position. The channel-buoy had been removed by the rebels, 
so that a considerable amount of sounding was necessary to determine the posi- 
tion of the channel. This was accordingly done on the following day. The 
members of the " stone fleet " were then towed to their proper positions. Each 
vessel was provided with a plug below the water-line, the withdrawal of which 
would speedily cause her to sink. 

On the morning of the twentieth of December, every thing was in readiness 
for the burial. The vessels were already defunct, but the obsequies, if imposing, 
Were brief The plugs were drawn out, the brine rushed in, and one by one the 
old hulks crazily settled to slumber in the dock-yard of Davy Jones. At half- 
past ten o'clock in the morning, the last one disappeared, and the funeral was 
over. A good view of the last hours of the stone fleet was obtained fi-om the 
deck of the Cahawba, which lay just off the bar ; and a correspondent of the New- 
York Tribune gives a description of the ceremony, in probably a fitter spirit than 
the above. He says : 

" It was rather melancholy to see old craft, that had weathered so many 
storms, stripped of their sails, aiid towed in, one by one, to be sunk. From the 
position in which the Cahawba lay, there was hardly an opening between the 
ships. An impassable line of wrecks was drawn for an eighth of a mile between 
the points indicated. All but two or three were careened. Some were on their 
beam-ends, some were down, by the head, others by the stern, and masts, spars, 
and rigging of the thickly crowded ship's were mingled and tangled in the great- 
est confusion." 

They did not long remain so. Boats were sent to cut away the masts, clear 
away the sails and gear that floated about, so that nothing might be left of any 
use to the rebels. For two hours prior to the final sinking of the ships, there was 
a continual crash of falling masts. Some of the vessels died hard, settling down 
very slowly. "And," observes the writer already quoted, "it was difficult to 
believe they were not afloat, and might yet sail away from their dreary fate. I 
think no one ever before saw the masts of fifteen ships cut away in the morning. 
When they were gone, the desolation was almost complete. The picture was 
more utterly ruinous and forlorn than can be conceived." 

Having accomplished his mission. Captain Davis returned to Port Eoyal. 
On the twenty-sixth of January, 1862, he took command of an expedition whose 
object was a reconnoissance up the Savannah Eiver. He sailed in the Ottawa, 
accompanied by light-draught steamers and gunboats. A portion of the expedi- 
tion, under Captain Davis, proceeded by way of the Wilmington Narrows, on the 
south side of the river, while his second in command. Captain C. R. P. Rodgers, 
pursued another channel. They entered the river at opposite sides, but were 



352 CHAKLES HENRY DAVIS. 

botli arrested in tlieir progress by piles driven in the river. While detained 
before these obstructions, Commodore Tatnall, of the rebel navy, came down the 
river from Savannah, with five gunboats, and a fleet of lighters in tow, with pro- 
visions for Fort Pulaski. A skirmish resulted, wherein Captain Davis, over- 
matched by superior force, was compelled to return to Port Royal, without, 
however, sustaining any damage. 

Soon after this. Captain Davis was promoted, and assigned to service in the 
Department of the "West. 

He assumed command of the Western Flotilla on the tenth of May, 1862. 
Soon aftei' seven o'clock on the morning of that day, while his fleet was moored 
to the banks of the MississijDpi, just above Fort Pillow, the rebel squadron, num- 
bering eight iron-clad steamers, came round the point and opened fire. This was 
spiritedly returned, and the engagement which ensued lasted about an hour, when 
the enemy beat a retreat below the guns of the Fort. Commodore Davis was 
incessantly and actively engaged in the reduction of Fort Pillow. Upon the 
evacuation of that place by the rebels, he immediately started for Memphis with 
his gallant fleet, and arrived there* on the fifth of June, anchoring a mile and a 
half above the city. Next morning the rebel rams and gunboats were discovered 
lying at the levee, and an engagement commenced at five a.m. AYho does not 
remember that glorious morning of victory ? The enemy opened the ball, at the 
same time keeping well in at the levee, in order to expose the city to the effects 
of our shot. But they soon discovered that they had no delicate-handed foe to 
deal with. We gave them iron for iron, with generous interest, regardless of 
consequences. 

Meantime two of the National rams, commanded by Colonel Ellet, the Queen 
of the West and the Monarch, steamed past the flag-ship, and drove feai'lessly 
down upon the enemy's line. The rebel steamer General Lovell went down 
before the'charge of the Queen of the West, who, however, did not escape damage 
herself The Union gunboats, meantime, continued their destructive fire, which 
soon disposed of two more of the rebej craft, when the remainder, after a contest 
of several hoiirs, ingioriously turned, and put on all steam to escape down the 
river. But Flag-Officer Davis pursued them closely for about ten miles, destrojr- 
ing some and capturing others. 

The rebel of&cers and crews endeavored to reach the shore, but many of 
them were captured. The victory was complete. Thousands of confident Mem- 
phians had thronged the levees and wharves to witness the fight. The' suri'ender 
of the city was, of course, a consequent of the victory. That rendition was form- 
ally made by the Mayor of Memphis, and military possession was immediately 
taken by the National troops. 

Two weeks after this brilliant aftair, while Commodore Davis, with his fleet, 



•• ^''^r27 



CHARLES HENRY DAVIS. 353 

still lay off the city, he received information that the gunboat expedition up 
AVhite Eiver had successfully attacked two important rebel batteries, and 
removed certain obstructions by which the navigation of that stream had been 
impeded. In reply to Commodore Davis's report, Secretary Welles said : " The 
intelligence of the continued success of the Navy is most gratifying." 

On the sixteenth of October, 1862, Commodore Davis was relieved of his 
command, and thereupon pi'oceeded to Washington, where he was made Chief of 
the Bureau of Navigation. On the seventh of February, 1863, he was made a 
Rear-Admiral. 

Admiral Davis has been over forty years in the naval service of his country, 
and in all that time only five years and two months unemployed. 







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